"Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom." If Kierkegaard's famous quote is true, the only cure is to imitate the dancer—to set your eyes on a single point and lunge towards it. You don't find steadiness by standing still; action is the only thing that grounds you enough to really flourish.
The insight about anxiety disguising itself as ambition is painfully accurate. I've seen this pattern repeat where people treat exploration like productive work when it's actualy just sophisticated procrastination. What helped me break out was commiting to 90-day sprints on single projects, which forces you to hit real constraints instead of staying in the comfort zone of possibilities. The provisional commitment frame is key.
"Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom." If Kierkegaard's famous quote is true, the only cure is to imitate the dancer—to set your eyes on a single point and lunge towards it. You don't find steadiness by standing still; action is the only thing that grounds you enough to really flourish.
More: https://www.whitenoise.email/p/less-is-more
“She died trying to do it all” is not a eulogy I’m upset with
Just do something.
beyond wonderful, stunningly delicious, totally did not cause imposter syndrome for my own writing in the slightest
I have a feeling that I’m going to come back to this essay multiple times throughout this year
The insight about anxiety disguising itself as ambition is painfully accurate. I've seen this pattern repeat where people treat exploration like productive work when it's actualy just sophisticated procrastination. What helped me break out was commiting to 90-day sprints on single projects, which forces you to hit real constraints instead of staying in the comfort zone of possibilities. The provisional commitment frame is key.
So gorgeous and necessary
thank you for calling me out, needed that.
The whole piece felt very personal to read. Felt every single word. Thank you for writing this!
I felt like a friend was lovingly yelling at me while I read this. And I liked it.
Just do something.