One can think of depression and anxiety as two ends of a spectrum. Depression often involves ruminating on things that have happened in the past. Anxiety often involves worrying about the future where something might happen.
Being present by definition means you are not living in the past or the future. This is the space of mindfulness, being aware of the present moment and the contents of your mind without being swept away in thought.
(I’m not sure who to attribute this to, but it is not an original thought).
See also:
- Awareness is key to being present
- The rate of depressive symptoms in US adults quadrupled during the pandemic
- Stress and anxiety are cumulative
Links to this note
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Anxiety Doesn’t Give You an Edge
I hear it often enough that it seems like a commonly held belief that anxiety somehow improves performance at work and gives one an edge. I believed it too, but with the help of therapy, I came to realize it’s not true. If anything, this belief makes us worse at a lot of things—not the least of which is feeling okay.
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Being an Optimist With Anxiety
I’m an optimist with anxiety—constantly fretting about the future, but optimistic that it will work out fine. This neatly sums up how I feel most days.
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A Sense We Should Be Doing Something Else
Our attention is highly fractured and leads to a constant feeling of restlessness. To quote author Rebecca Solnit, “a sense that we should be doing something else, no matter what we are doing.”