1 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:09,000 Speaker 1: Hello everybody. I'm Jemma Spake and welcome back to the 2 00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 1: Psychology of Your Twenties, the podcast where we talk through 3 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: the biggest changes, moments, and transitions of our twenties and 4 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: what they mean for our psychology. Hello everybody, Welcome back 5 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: to the show. Welcome back to the podcast. It is 6 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:32,599 Speaker 1: so great to have you here. I literally landed in 7 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: London back from Australia like five hours ago, and the 8 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: jet lag is really setting in right now, so bear 9 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: with me, But I feel like this episode can't wait. 10 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: I feel like this is the most pressing feeling of 11 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 1: our generation, of our time that needs to be discussed 12 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:55,279 Speaker 1: before the next world disaster hits in probably the next 13 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: few days. And the topic for today that is our 14 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: anxiety about the future, our anxiety about the future of 15 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: the world, the future of our lives, and how to 16 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: manage it. I don't think that I've had a conversation, 17 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: a single conversation in the past six months that hasn't 18 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 1: included some mention of an ever present existential threat kind 19 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: of lingering over our lives that combined with all of 20 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: our personal worries and anxieties about the future. As twenty 21 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: somethings meant that it kind of felt like the right 22 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: time to do an episode on catastrophizing and how to 23 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,320 Speaker 1: stay grounded right now when our thoughts are probably going 24 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:43,360 Speaker 1: one thousand miles a minute. I'm a major catastrophier, and 25 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: if you are like me, the thought spirals, the negativity spirals, 26 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: are probably NonStop at the moment, and it's annoying. It's annoying, 27 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: it's frustrating. It leaves little room to really think about 28 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: anything else. It leaves little room to get stuff done, 29 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: little room to enjoy the present for what it is. 30 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: So today I want to give an explanation as to 31 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 1: what is happening in your brain as these spirals are 32 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: taking place. Why your anxiety about the future is probably 33 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: so dominant right now, be the effect that that's having 34 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: on us. So you can have a little bit of 35 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 1: grace if you are finding it harder to focus, finding 36 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: it harder to be present, and see, most importantly, the 37 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: five things that you can do to recenter. I don't 38 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: want to say recenter, I don't want to say relax. 39 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: The recenter when you re establish some good routines and 40 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: some good habits to let you kind of concentrate on 41 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: what you can control, what you can do, the good 42 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: that you can bring to the world. And I don't 43 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: want to say be less focused, but not let the 44 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: negative thoughts and the negative perspective be the primary ones. So, 45 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: without further ado, let's get into manager anxiety about the 46 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:07,920 Speaker 1: future right now. So if you're in your twenties, I 47 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: think most of you are, I would say the majority 48 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: of us alf who are listening to this podcast. I 49 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: think the world is kind of serving us two types 50 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: of anxieties about the future. The first one is the broader, 51 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: high level anxiety about the state that the world is in, 52 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: which kind of just like dominates everything. You know. I 53 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 1: could go into a long list. I could talk about AI, 54 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: I could talk about war, I could talk about I 55 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: don't know, fuel crisis. There's just too many things to 56 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: list right and that it's a lot. That is really 57 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: why we are so impacted by it, Like there's this 58 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: sense of like what do I worry about? First? That 59 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: is the first level of like mass uncertainty and mass 60 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 1: anxiety that we're up against. Like it just feels like 61 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: the world is going through more changes now than it 62 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: ever has before. That is true or not? It definitely 63 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: is the pressing and dominant feeling. The second type of 64 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: anxiety that a lot of us are experiencing right now 65 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: is just our anxiety about our own personal circumstances. Despite 66 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: what's going on in the world. It's not selfish to 67 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: still care about what we're up against, you know. For 68 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: those of us just starting out an adult life, that's 69 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:21,840 Speaker 1: basically anyone under the age of thirty five, as far 70 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: as I see it, like we are particularly faced with 71 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: the sense of uncertainty about things that are more personal 72 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: to us, about our careers, the state of our love lives, 73 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 1: our friendships, our financial situation. Our twenties are defined by 74 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: a lack of definition, which is deeply exciting because everything 75 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,840 Speaker 1: is possible, and also deeply stressful because we are literally 76 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:45,839 Speaker 1: staring at a blank slate and there's a lot of 77 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 1: responsibility that comes with the beginning of something. The very 78 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: fact that we are at the beginning of our adult 79 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: lives is unsettling, but also it means that we're less established, 80 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,920 Speaker 1: such that those two levels of anxiety we're talking about 81 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: combined forces. Right. Yes, we have that anxiety about our 82 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: personal lives and what we want from our future, but 83 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: it is more destabilized. We are more destabilized by what 84 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: is going on in the world. We are more sensitive 85 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 1: to what is changing because we probably don't have the 86 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:22,719 Speaker 1: savings of people who are older than us, we don't 87 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: have the experiences of people who are older than us, 88 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: we don't have the skill set that protects against some 89 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 1: of the economic and sociopolitical and workplace uncertainties. So basically 90 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: all that's just to validate what you're probably experiencing right now, 91 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: which is a lot of fear. And to say it 92 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,720 Speaker 1: goes without saying that our generation, our age group, is 93 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: more primed to be anxious than most and often that 94 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: anxiety and that rumination is actually the only sense of 95 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,839 Speaker 1: control that we have. What I think a lot of 96 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: us need to be more I don't know what kind 97 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: to ourselves about it, is that our anxiety is the 98 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: coping mechanism right now. You may have heard a specific 99 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:11,479 Speaker 1: word for this. It's called anticipatory anxiety, and it's essentially 100 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: when we borrow stress, suffering fear from the future by 101 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: attempting to problem solve a hypothetical situation that hasn't happened 102 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:26,720 Speaker 1: yet in the present. Basically a complicated way of saying 103 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 1: we think that we can avoid future anxiety by making 104 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: it a today problem. The issue is that that's entirely irrational. 105 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: No level of thinking about something can change what is 106 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:41,359 Speaker 1: going to happen. But that doesn't matter. Like, that's the 107 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: reason it is a form of anxiety because it is irrational. 108 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:48,479 Speaker 1: Let me break down for you why why despite this rationality, 109 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:51,839 Speaker 1: our brain likes to pursue this path of future fear 110 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: even when it doesn't necessarily make sense or doesn't necessarily 111 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: help us, Like why do we find ourselves worrying so 112 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: continuous about things that we cannot change when that feels 113 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:07,840 Speaker 1: so impractical. There are a few reasons. Reason number one 114 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: is just this illusion of certainty, essentially constantly thinking about 115 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: all the potential horrible ways or the horrible futures we 116 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: could face. At least it gives our mind something to do. 117 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: At least it gives our mind a sense that we're 118 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: doing something productive about our fear because we are being 119 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: cognitively mentally preventive. As is the case with all overthinking, 120 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: we don't actually fear the situation. We fear that we 121 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: won't be able to cope with the situation, and so 122 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: to remove that primary fear in advance. We run through 123 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,120 Speaker 1: all of these scenarios because it gives us a sense 124 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: that we are practicing what we would do if we 125 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,880 Speaker 1: were in that scenario mentally, like that's we're rehearsing things 126 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: going wrong, going to be better at handling it when 127 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: they obviously do go wrong. The problem is we're just 128 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: thinking about the worst case scenario. We're not thinking about 129 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: how we would survive it. We're not actually doing any 130 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: of the coping when we're imagining the world falling apart. 131 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: You know the quote, I don't know what it is like. 132 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: The thing we fear the most is fear itself. I 133 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: always thought that this is what I was talking about. 134 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 1: Our fear of uncertainty is the ultimate fear because it's 135 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: just revealing all the ways that we are weak all 136 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: at once. You know, at our core, we hate uncertainty. 137 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: Humans hate uncertainty, whether it's an exam result, whether it's 138 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: waiting for a text back, wanting to know if you 139 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: ever find love, if you ever find your place, wanting 140 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 1: to know if what's going to happen in the world, 141 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: the blank space ahead of us. We don't like it 142 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: because ambiguity is where anxiety can be most imaginative and 143 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: creative because it's whether the least constraints because there's nothing 144 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 1: we can and predict. Studies have provided so much evidence 145 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: from this, like I feel like you guys just know 146 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: this from feeling it. But to give you some of 147 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 1: the research, there was a twenty eleven study, for example, 148 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: that tested seventy eight participants on their fear of uncertainty, 149 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:20,200 Speaker 1: and these participants were divided into three groups. Basically the experiments, 150 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 1: the researcher said, we're going to show you some pictures. 151 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 1: For one group, they said, we're going to show you 152 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,959 Speaker 1: some pictures of something neutral, like vegetables, whatever. The second group, 153 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 1: they said, we're going to show you pictures of something 154 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: that's really, really terrifying. We're going to show you pictures 155 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 1: of violence, of snakes, of terrible things. In the third category, 156 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: they didn't tell them what the picture would be. They said, 157 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: there may be some pictures of some neutral things, there 158 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: may be some pictures of some scary things. This group 159 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:53,440 Speaker 1: had the highest level of anxiety of any of the 160 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: other groups. Even the group that knew one hundred percent 161 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 1: of the time they were going to see the scary image. 162 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: You would imagine that that group would be the most fearful, 163 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: right because there was one hundred percent chance they were 164 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 1: going to see something they didn't want to see. But 165 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,680 Speaker 1: what this study really revealed was that, again, it's not 166 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,959 Speaker 1: the fear, it's the uncertainty about whether what's going to 167 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,040 Speaker 1: happen will be good or bad. It's that fifty to 168 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:19,360 Speaker 1: fifty chance that means that we never feel fully prepared. 169 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,600 Speaker 1: Another interesting finding from this same study. In that round 170 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 1: where there was a fifty to fIF fifty chance, you know, 171 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: are you going to see the positive or neutral image? 172 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: Are you're going to see the negative image? The participants 173 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:38,000 Speaker 1: always expected the negative every single round. Their body was 174 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:42,200 Speaker 1: showing signs that they were anticipating the worst case scenario, 175 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,959 Speaker 1: even though the outcome could just have easily have been neutral. 176 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:51,439 Speaker 1: We see this outside an experimental setting all the time. 177 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:57,080 Speaker 1: We never overthink that things could go well, Like when 178 00:10:57,160 --> 00:10:59,120 Speaker 1: was the last time you expected not just a good outcome, 179 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: but like a neutral outcome. Our mind never goes down 180 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:07,560 Speaker 1: that path. It always chooses the worst case scenario. So 181 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:10,520 Speaker 1: of course it's going to be all consuming. It's skewed 182 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: towards everything terrible. Like again, your brain doesn't have to 183 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: prepare for the best case scenario because it's the best 184 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: and so anytime you're thinking about the future, of course, 185 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:24,200 Speaker 1: I would say the majority of the time, you're going 186 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: to be thinking about the ways that it's not going 187 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: to go well and all the terrible hypotheticals. It's just 188 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: skewing your perception. And it's why when we actually arrive 189 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: at the situations that we fear, it's often not all 190 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 1: that bad. Like you kind of just breathe a sigh 191 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: of relief at times. Maybe that's one of the I 192 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:46,760 Speaker 1: don't want to say the benefits. I don't want to 193 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 1: go that far. But one of the weird side effects 194 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:51,959 Speaker 1: is that when we get to situations that we feared 195 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,960 Speaker 1: so often often there is a level of relief there 196 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:57,679 Speaker 1: that like, it's not as bad as we thought it 197 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:00,600 Speaker 1: was going to be, Like, does that make sense. There's 198 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: been so many other studies that have, you know, repeated 199 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: this finding again and again and again. We anticipate the 200 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: worst case scenario. But what they also show is that 201 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: when we anticipate the worst case scenario, being in a 202 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:20,560 Speaker 1: state of uncertainty makes our executive functioning worse. And this 203 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:26,280 Speaker 1: is one of those weird human evolutionary biology ironies. The 204 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 1: evolutionary explanation would say, worrying about the future allows us 205 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 1: to anticipate things that we need to survive, allows us 206 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 1: to practice or rehearse how we're going to cope. But equally, 207 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:42,320 Speaker 1: the science tells us that being in that state of 208 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:46,960 Speaker 1: uncertainty and always imagining the worst case scenario actually harms 209 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,679 Speaker 1: our bodies biological ability to cope. So some evidence of this, 210 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: there are studies that suggest that being in a state 211 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 1: of uncertainty makes our executive functioning worse, makes our level 212 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:03,680 Speaker 1: of coping worse, makes out frontal lobe's ability to execute 213 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: rational thought worse, makes our even our body less physically prepared. 214 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:12,000 Speaker 1: There was a study from twenty twenty that showed this. 215 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: They got a bunch of participants and they said to them, 216 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 1: you're going to do a speech. We're either going to 217 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:23,120 Speaker 1: tell you what you have to do the speech on 218 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,839 Speaker 1: or when not. Actually, I think it was like they 219 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: might have to do a speech, they might not. They 220 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: did know the topic. But those who were uncertain about 221 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: whether they were going to have to do that, they 222 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:37,720 Speaker 1: were then presented with this other task at the same 223 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:39,959 Speaker 1: time where they had to compete, like I think they 224 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:45,080 Speaker 1: had to do some computer task or whatever, and that 225 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:50,599 Speaker 1: group did so poorly on that task. They made incorrect 226 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:56,679 Speaker 1: judgment errors, they couldn't operate properly, they made poor decisions, 227 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 1: all because the uncertainty of this other situation they were 228 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:04,760 Speaker 1: in was taking away their cognitive resources without them knowing it. 229 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 1: So this is so important to understand. If you are 230 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 1: really like staring down the barrel of some like crazy 231 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 1: anxiety about your future right now, you're like a precipice 232 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 1: of like some major life changes. If you are feeling 233 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,200 Speaker 1: like you are not doing well in other areas of 234 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: your life because of that, the science is telling me 235 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:31,480 Speaker 1: and is telling you that that is a very likely explanation. Essentially, 236 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: don't be so hard on yourself being in the state 237 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 1: of uncertainty about where your career is going to go, 238 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 1: where you're going to live, how your relationships are going 239 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:44,320 Speaker 1: to turn out. That is like having twenty tabs open 240 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:48,720 Speaker 1: in the background, churning through all your cognitive resources, churning 241 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,400 Speaker 1: through like your battery power, whilst you're just trying to 242 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: live your life. So that is the general human explanation. 243 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: Right Our brain doesn't like uncertainty. Our brain tries to 244 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: cope with uncertainty by overthinking. That overthinking actually makes it harder. 245 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:07,080 Speaker 1: But for some people, catastrophizing has much deeper roots, Like 246 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: it's not just an instinctual thing, it's more entrenched. It's 247 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: learned from an unpredictable childhood environment, an unpredictable relationship. Others 248 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: might catastrophize because of trauma, like I think it's important 249 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: to again have grace that there are situations that you 250 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 1: may have been through that are going to put you 251 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 1: in this state of like catastrophizing more than other people, 252 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:34,480 Speaker 1: often because it's not just about regaining control in a 253 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:39,440 Speaker 1: practicing manner, but not wanting to be blindsided if in 254 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:42,960 Speaker 1: the past, like somebody has come out and hurt you 255 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:47,800 Speaker 1: and you did not anticipate it, life has changed underneath 256 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,480 Speaker 1: like and in front of you rapidly. You are more 257 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,280 Speaker 1: likely to have anxiety about the future because you have 258 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: past experiences that are showing you and have taught you 259 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 1: more than other people or how quickly things can change. 260 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: There's also this fascinating psychology and this fascinating research that 261 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:10,120 Speaker 1: says your level of anxiety about the future may also 262 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:14,680 Speaker 1: be a personality trait. There's this personality trait called tolerance 263 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: for uncertainty, and essentially what this research found was that 264 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,960 Speaker 1: there are some people who for whom ambiguity not knowing 265 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,600 Speaker 1: what's going on in life, not knowing what the future 266 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:29,240 Speaker 1: is going to be. It is so much more painful 267 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 1: than the average person. And it's not just because they're 268 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: more sensitive. It's not just because they I don't know, 269 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: are more politically engaged, or they're more anxious. Again, it's 270 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: because of how their personality has been set up, how 271 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: what their temperament is. They have this compulsive drive to 272 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 1: want predictability, to want closure. It's part of how they are, 273 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 1: it's part of who they are. This trait was first 274 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:56,040 Speaker 1: identified in the nineteen nineties by researchers at this Canadian university, 275 00:16:56,120 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 1: and they found that people with this trait are often 276 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:04,119 Speaker 1: needed more reassurance about things being okay. They had a 277 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: tendency towards excessive information seeking, so spending a lot of 278 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:10,840 Speaker 1: time researching, looking at the news, seeing what other people 279 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:13,679 Speaker 1: were doing. And again, it all came back to this 280 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:18,160 Speaker 1: fundamental need within these people for control and for answers. 281 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: The problem for us though, and the problem especially for 282 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:24,359 Speaker 1: people who are high in this personality trait, is that 283 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:26,719 Speaker 1: no one can give you those answers, not about how 284 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:28,720 Speaker 1: the world is going to turn out, not about how 285 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:31,919 Speaker 1: your life is going to turn out. The issue is 286 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,520 Speaker 1: that people with this trait can't stop trying, though, and 287 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: I think that's its own level of curse that goes 288 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: beyond just the natural human desire for certainty. So we've 289 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:46,400 Speaker 1: talked about why this is. We've talked about the psychological 290 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:51,159 Speaker 1: impact of this on your rationality, on your executive functioning, 291 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:56,639 Speaker 1: on your mood, on your physical preparedness as well. I 292 00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:58,800 Speaker 1: think it's now time that we move on and talk 293 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:02,359 Speaker 1: about what it can actually do about this anxiety. Because 294 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:04,359 Speaker 1: as much as it does seem very doom and gloom 295 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: that this is just how your brain is set up, 296 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:11,119 Speaker 1: that is not accurate. There is a lot that you 297 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: can contribute and you can add and you can deliberately 298 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,640 Speaker 1: control that is going to allow you to lean into 299 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:21,800 Speaker 1: this anxiety as much as humanly possible in this moment. 300 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 1: So stay with us. We're going to talk about that 301 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:33,639 Speaker 1: and so much more after this short break. Okay, So 302 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:36,920 Speaker 1: we've talked about the negatives of warrying, which I feel 303 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:39,639 Speaker 1: like we shouldn't really linger on for much longer, and 304 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,479 Speaker 1: we know that like anxiety of this kind isn't good 305 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:45,439 Speaker 1: for us, or what are we going to do to 306 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 1: actually address this? The quote I always try and come 307 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: back to as like a touchstone in situations like this 308 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:59,320 Speaker 1: is that when we catastrophize, we suffer twice. We suffer 309 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:03,359 Speaker 1: once in response to an imagined reality, and then again 310 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:08,879 Speaker 1: maybe if that reality does come true. But we always 311 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 1: suffer even if it doesn't come true, like we suffer 312 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: as a form of insurance almost and again, it is 313 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: about reiterating to yourself, like how often do the worst 314 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,359 Speaker 1: case scenarios actually happen? It's a good reminder not to 315 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:26,240 Speaker 1: borrow grief and sadness and stress from the future, because 316 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:32,680 Speaker 1: chances are it won't happen exactly the way you imagined anyways. Secondly, 317 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:35,920 Speaker 1: your level of coping is often something that you underestimate, 318 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: just as much as you overestimate how terrible the situation 319 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,600 Speaker 1: is going to be. And like the success of worry 320 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: doesn't actually leave you more prepared, so you can't keep 321 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: listening to your brain as it tries to convince you 322 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 1: that it will. So we need an alternative, And what 323 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: I think the alternative is is this, if you can 324 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:59,960 Speaker 1: overthink the negatives of a situation, you are just as capable, 325 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,960 Speaker 1: if not more capable, than most of overthinking the positives 326 00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:09,640 Speaker 1: as well. This is essentially a form of emotional replacement therapy, right. 327 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:14,359 Speaker 1: It's like replacing like I don't know, alcohol for a 328 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:18,480 Speaker 1: non alcoholic beverage, or like a cigarette for a nicotine gum. 329 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:23,639 Speaker 1: Replace your negative overthinking vice with positive overthinking. Take any 330 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,160 Speaker 1: terrible worst case scenario that your brain is currently cooking 331 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:30,240 Speaker 1: up for you about your future or the global future, 332 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:35,359 Speaker 1: and instead consciously, deliberately imagine all the ways that it 333 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:40,600 Speaker 1: could go right, even if it feels ridiculously optimistic and stupid, 334 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,920 Speaker 1: even if it feels delusional. Set yourself a challenge. Anytime 335 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: you have a negative assessment of the future, anytime you 336 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:53,119 Speaker 1: find yourself catastrophizing, write down five alternatives that end with 337 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:57,760 Speaker 1: a positive what if you know your brain is again 338 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 1: having this negativity bias by it's going to amplify the 339 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: what if insert worst case scenario here, You are still 340 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: allowed to have the what if Your brain is still 341 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: allowed to have that preference for imagination, or that preference 342 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:18,439 Speaker 1: for hypotheticals, but make them positive hypotheticals, turn the what 343 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:22,440 Speaker 1: if into something that's a bit more positively imaginative and vibrant. 344 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 1: It might not change your reality, right, but that is 345 00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:32,399 Speaker 1: not the objective. The objective is again, not to suffer twice. 346 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:38,280 Speaker 1: The objective is to keep yourself more mentally prepared and 347 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:42,680 Speaker 1: physically prepared and emotionally prepared for if the worst case 348 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:47,320 Speaker 1: scenario does happen, because you haven't already exhausted yourself and 349 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,959 Speaker 1: exhausted or your mental resources as you were imagining it. Like, 350 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,119 Speaker 1: the only objective of this is not to change the reality. Again, 351 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:58,400 Speaker 1: it's just so that you don't suffer twice. This strategy 352 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: was taken a step further by this research of this 353 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:07,199 Speaker 1: behavioral research scientist called Alison Wood, who suggested that a 354 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 1: way of coping with our fears about the future is 355 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 1: to relabel our anxiety as excitement. And we've spoken about 356 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 1: this before, but in her work, Alison she investigated people's 357 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:21,680 Speaker 1: responses to tasks that made them really fearful, made them 358 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:26,119 Speaker 1: really scared nervous, things like public speaking, meeting with a boss, 359 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 1: a first date, and what she found was that in 360 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:34,320 Speaker 1: most cases, as people were entering this situation, the most 361 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:37,879 Speaker 1: effective thing they thought they could do beforehand was to 362 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:42,560 Speaker 1: come down and was to intensely try and ignore the 363 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:46,360 Speaker 1: uncomfortable feelings that they were feeling when they faced the situation. 364 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,880 Speaker 1: When they faced this anxiety about the future, they really 365 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,200 Speaker 1: did believe the best thing I can do is ignore it. 366 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: And what her research found was that actually that actually 367 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 1: made us think about the anxious feeling more. It's like, 368 00:22:58,000 --> 00:22:59,560 Speaker 1: I think, what is it called like the white bear 369 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:01,879 Speaker 1: the white elephant effect? When I tell you not to 370 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 1: think about a white elephant, the first thing you're going 371 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: to think about as a white elephant. When you tell 372 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: yourself I shouldn't be anxious, I shouldn't be anxious, You're 373 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:11,199 Speaker 1: just going to be more anxious. So instead take the feeling, 374 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: acknowledge it, feel it more deeply, but instead say this 375 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:19,880 Speaker 1: is excitement. I'm excited about the possibility. I'm excited about 376 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,399 Speaker 1: the future. This anxiety is activating. It always will and 377 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:26,879 Speaker 1: it always does like activate and uses the same neural 378 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:32,400 Speaker 1: and biological patterns as any type of arousal, including positive 379 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: arousal and excitement. So it is up for interpretation. You 380 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:41,680 Speaker 1: are able to take this anxious feeling and if possible, 381 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:46,639 Speaker 1: and if you do it right, switch it into a 382 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 1: feeling that indicates opportunity and a feeling that indicates that 383 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,240 Speaker 1: the best or that good things are coming, things that 384 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,439 Speaker 1: you cannot anticipate. Does that kind of make sense? Like, essentially, 385 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:00,720 Speaker 1: it's just a form of cognitive reappreaate, like just to 386 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:04,400 Speaker 1: use the psychology term for it. This is I think 387 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 1: particularly powerful for anxiety about our personal futures, like am 388 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:12,560 Speaker 1: I going to make friends? Am I going to find 389 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:14,600 Speaker 1: a job? Am I going to survive the next chapter? 390 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:22,480 Speaker 1: I just think that viewing ambiguity as an opportunity for 391 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: greatness and viewing the blank slate as an opportunity for possibility. 392 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:31,639 Speaker 1: It doesn't again, it doesn't change the reality, but it 393 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:34,080 Speaker 1: changes how you cope, It changes how you act, and 394 00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:35,840 Speaker 1: it changes how you feel. And that is really what 395 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,119 Speaker 1: we're trying to target. I think it's equally valuable if 396 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:41,200 Speaker 1: you are having a lot of fear about your future 397 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: to shrink down your timeline a little bit instead of asking, 398 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:46,840 Speaker 1: you know, what is my life going to look like 399 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 1: in five years and being obsessively worried about controlling everything 400 00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:54,320 Speaker 1: up until that five year mark, Instead of constantly asking 401 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: what's my life going to look like in ten years? 402 00:24:55,760 --> 00:25:01,399 Speaker 1: Am I ever going to be happy? Just zoom in 403 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:05,960 Speaker 1: a little bit, Zoom into what you could do in 404 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,159 Speaker 1: the next week, what you could do this weekend that 405 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,159 Speaker 1: would be meaningful or productive, What can you achieve in 406 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:16,840 Speaker 1: two months? Rather than projecting yourself further and further into 407 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 1: the future, then your current abilities would actually allow you 408 00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,879 Speaker 1: to control. And this isn't about lowering your ambition. It's 409 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: about redirecting your attention to a time frame where your 410 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:31,200 Speaker 1: actions actually have power. This is the big thing about 411 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:34,400 Speaker 1: our anxiety about the future. Again, it actually makes us 412 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: less capable of managing the future because it keeps us 413 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,439 Speaker 1: focused on things that are further and further out of 414 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:46,480 Speaker 1: our reach. There is very little that you can do 415 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:50,000 Speaker 1: right now that would all out guarantee how your life 416 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:54,639 Speaker 1: would look like in five or ten years, and getting 417 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 1: to that point requires you to take action now. The 418 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,680 Speaker 1: thing is is that obsessively worrying about whether the action 419 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:04,400 Speaker 1: you're taking now is going to have the positive effect 420 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:08,119 Speaker 1: on your future that you want it to often counterintuitively 421 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 1: means that we don't actually take that necessary action that 422 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: we know is right because we are so cognitively overwhelmed 423 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:19,200 Speaker 1: and mentally overwhelmed with the possibilities of it going wrong. 424 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: So condense your timeframe, try any possible strategy you have 425 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,720 Speaker 1: to just refocus on the present, Refocus on the next 426 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,120 Speaker 1: couple of weeks. And I would also say, if you're 427 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,639 Speaker 1: really dealing with some incredible personal anxiety about the future, 428 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,400 Speaker 1: use history as your compass. Really dig into your memory 429 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 1: to provide relief. Essentially, remember the times in the past 430 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:49,320 Speaker 1: where you thought the worst case scenario was all but certain, 431 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 1: and actually it didn't happen. Try and remember previous experiences 432 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,520 Speaker 1: where you entered a room and thought it was going 433 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:02,560 Speaker 1: to be terrible, when you got on a flight and 434 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 1: you thought you were going to be scared, when you 435 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:06,440 Speaker 1: moved to a new city and you thought you'd never 436 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:10,439 Speaker 1: made friends, And how far removed you are from that 437 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 1: negative situation now, how differently things turned out. The best 438 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:22,040 Speaker 1: antidote to my future anxieties is just calling out how 439 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 1: they have never been accurate in the past. Never like 440 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: my anxiety is such an unreliable narrator. It has never 441 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,920 Speaker 1: been right about a situation, So why do I keep 442 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:36,920 Speaker 1: believing it? Why do you keep believing it, and if 443 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:41,199 Speaker 1: you can remember a time it has been right, and 444 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: if you're wanting to use that as evidence that it 445 00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:47,200 Speaker 1: might be right in the future, think about the fact 446 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 1: that you are still here and that you still found 447 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,159 Speaker 1: a way to cope, because so often when we have 448 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 1: these like negative assessments, again, we don't think about the coping. 449 00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 1: We just think about how terrible the feeling is going 450 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:04,359 Speaker 1: to be. We just remove and suddenly forget that we 451 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 1: have agency and that will be able to ever do 452 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: anything about it. This is where I really want to 453 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:17,399 Speaker 1: talk about the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, who used this strategy, 454 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 1: I guess, use this idea called negative visualization. And essentially 455 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:24,520 Speaker 1: what he said was that or what he thought or 456 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:27,679 Speaker 1: believed was that to manage anxiety about the future, and 457 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,919 Speaker 1: to manage this catastrophizing anxiety spiral that a lot of 458 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,680 Speaker 1: us face every single day, much like that research from 459 00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 1: that doctor who talked about turning anxiety into excitement, let 460 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,680 Speaker 1: yourself think about those worst case scenarios, do the last 461 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 1: thing that your brain expects you to do. Let yourself 462 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 1: experience that anxiety more, picture all the terrible things, and 463 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: then add in all the ways that you're going to 464 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,240 Speaker 1: cope with negative visualization. What he would do is that 465 00:28:57,320 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 1: every single day, I think he would think of all 466 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: the different things that could go wrong, all the different 467 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: ways that his day could go terribly and then he 468 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:07,800 Speaker 1: would visualize all the ways that he was going to cope. 469 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:10,000 Speaker 1: He would visualize all the different ways that he was 470 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:12,320 Speaker 1: going to survive that. And we can do that for 471 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,320 Speaker 1: the larger scale things as well. We can do that 472 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,920 Speaker 1: for the situation I always think is a big fear 473 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 1: for us, which is like, what if I lose my job? 474 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 1: What if like AI takes my industry? What if this? 475 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: What if that? What if I'm no longer needed? What 476 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:26,880 Speaker 1: if all this study was to waste? What if all 477 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,200 Speaker 1: my skills were to waste? And we get into the 478 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: spiral of like, I'm gonna end up destitute, I'm going 479 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: to end up homeless. What Marcus Aurelius would say would 480 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:39,720 Speaker 1: be take that situation, Imagine, yep, it all going terribly wrong. 481 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:43,239 Speaker 1: Now imagine five different ways that you could cope. The 482 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:47,239 Speaker 1: skills that you could regain, the soft skills that you 483 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:52,480 Speaker 1: could I don't know, fine tune, the new career path 484 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,480 Speaker 1: that you could pivot into the skill that you have 485 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:57,960 Speaker 1: that this technology doesn't, the way that you could go 486 00:29:58,040 --> 00:29:59,640 Speaker 1: back to school, the way that you could start your 487 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 1: own businesess like that is the part of this equation 488 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 1: that we never spend time on and that our mind 489 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:10,000 Speaker 1: never spends time on. That's just one example, obviously, but again, 490 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: recenter your agency rather than letting the fear be the 491 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 1: only dominant feeling. Let's finish up this episode by turning 492 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: our attention back to our larger anxieties about the world, 493 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:29,080 Speaker 1: the high level fear that everything is going to shit, 494 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: everything is terrible, everything is a disaster, which honestly feels 495 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: accurate sometimes. But how do we navigate those anxieties, especially because, yes, 496 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:42,080 Speaker 1: we've talked about recentering agency, but our agency is probably 497 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:45,200 Speaker 1: more limited in these cases, so some of those personal 498 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,040 Speaker 1: strategies are not going to be as effective. I have 499 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,200 Speaker 1: a couple of alternatives. I have three things for you 500 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:55,200 Speaker 1: to try in these situations where you're really spirally about 501 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:57,440 Speaker 1: the future of the world. The first is again a 502 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:01,680 Speaker 1: reminder that if you care, others must care well. When 503 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:05,160 Speaker 1: we feel anxious about large scale I don't even want 504 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,720 Speaker 1: to call them issues, disasters, emergencies, whatever it is. Part 505 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:14,040 Speaker 1: of what intensifies that anxiety is something called pluralistic ignorance. 506 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:18,560 Speaker 1: This is a cognitive bias where we assume that our 507 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: private concerns aren't shared by anybody else, even when they are, 508 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: because really we can only ever know and fully feel 509 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 1: our own thoughts. What this means is that we look 510 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 1: around and we're like, how come nobody else is worried 511 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 1: about this? How come nobody is caring about this? And 512 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:37,280 Speaker 1: suddenly your level of concern feels very isolating. It feels 513 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: much larger than you can cope with because you are 514 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,840 Speaker 1: just one tiny person. So it is important to keep focus, 515 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:48,000 Speaker 1: to keep in touch with to keep your attention on 516 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,640 Speaker 1: the ways that other people do care, to actively seek 517 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 1: out communities, people pages that show and give evidence for 518 00:31:57,480 --> 00:31:59,600 Speaker 1: the fact that other people are concerned. Other people are 519 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:03,840 Speaker 1: actively contributing, other people are helping, so that you don't 520 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 1: only end up seeing the world as this negative place 521 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,160 Speaker 1: where you are the only good person. Remember, the world 522 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:11,239 Speaker 1: is good because you are in it and you are 523 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:14,520 Speaker 1: good people. Don't let yourself get buried under the sense 524 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:16,800 Speaker 1: that you are the only one who is living through 525 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 1: these awful times and having the reactions you are. Most 526 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:22,480 Speaker 1: people are feeling this way. Most people are having the 527 00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 1: same worries as you are. Talk to them about it, 528 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:28,320 Speaker 1: join them in like how they are striving to make 529 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:33,040 Speaker 1: things better. Basically, more generally, like be the change. You know. 530 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: You probably can't influence world politics, but you can carry, 531 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:41,160 Speaker 1: you know, the groceries up for your elderly neighbor. You 532 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 1: can donate your time. You can spread seeds around your 533 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:49,239 Speaker 1: local community. You can be kind to the people that 534 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:53,200 Speaker 1: you know. And I do genuinely believe that that those 535 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:58,000 Speaker 1: small tangible acts do have big, larger repercussions. And psychologically 536 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,840 Speaker 1: it doesn't matter if it changes nothing. It matters in 537 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: that it helps you. When we feel overwhelmed by global issues, 538 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:08,960 Speaker 1: by future uncertainty, we often fall into a state of 539 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:12,480 Speaker 1: learned helplessness, the belief that nothing we do will make 540 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,680 Speaker 1: a difference, and so we stop trying all together, not 541 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:20,000 Speaker 1: just about global things, but about personal things and personal 542 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:26,280 Speaker 1: goals and personal decisions. But small local action interrupts that pattern. 543 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,840 Speaker 1: It restores a sense of agency again, It restores a 544 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,920 Speaker 1: sense that, like, your behavior has an impact. And that 545 00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:39,400 Speaker 1: doesn't just help for I don't know our global fears, 546 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: but it helps in that It lets us make long 547 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:44,479 Speaker 1: term plans for the future because it makes us in it. 548 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:46,240 Speaker 1: It helps us believe that the future will be there. 549 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 1: It stops us from doing things that are impulsive, like overspending, 550 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 1: doing things that are dangerous. It lets us actually set goals. 551 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:57,640 Speaker 1: And again, this isn't about this isn't only about you, 552 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,600 Speaker 1: Like obviously, we're talking about a global or a community 553 00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:04,160 Speaker 1: wide sense of despair, like a global sense of like 554 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 1: that things are going terribly And I know it sounds 555 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:09,399 Speaker 1: like I keep bringing it back to what you need 556 00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:11,359 Speaker 1: and what you can do to make yourself feel better, 557 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 1: but genuinely, you cannot do anything for anybody else if 558 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:17,360 Speaker 1: you do not take care of yourself. And part of 559 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,000 Speaker 1: taking care of yourself is taking care of others, because again, 560 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: there's this cycle of agency that makes you feel like 561 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:25,960 Speaker 1: you are not just one more person that all of 562 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: the world's events are happening to you, are part of 563 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:30,560 Speaker 1: a broader community, are not alone in this, and you're 564 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:40,000 Speaker 1: experiencing this with other people by your side. I also 565 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,960 Speaker 1: think just having some good digital and online hygiene is 566 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:47,200 Speaker 1: incredibly important if you are having a lot of anxiety 567 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:51,800 Speaker 1: about the future. Not just limiting how much terrible negative 568 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:55,359 Speaker 1: news that you are consuming, but just limiting how much 569 00:34:55,400 --> 00:35:00,880 Speaker 1: online content you are engaging with full stop about you. 570 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 1: But I just feel like my algorithm is so angry 571 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:08,040 Speaker 1: and terrible at the moment, even when it's not about 572 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,520 Speaker 1: the global news. Like I just got into this stage 573 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:14,000 Speaker 1: with my algorithm. I don't know, like we're having this relationship, 574 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: but like my algorithm got to this point where everything 575 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:21,840 Speaker 1: it was showing me was like people fighting or people 576 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:26,200 Speaker 1: having arguments on the street, or you know, some kind 577 00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:30,280 Speaker 1: of controversy or hot take video. And genuinely I remember 578 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,200 Speaker 1: having this moment where I was scrolling and I was like, 579 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:36,920 Speaker 1: I have not seen a positive piece of content in ages, 580 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,840 Speaker 1: because this is the kind of stuff that gets engagement. 581 00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 1: You know, if you are sitting on your phone constantly 582 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:47,440 Speaker 1: and that is what's being fed to you, you are not, 583 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:51,040 Speaker 1: of course naturally going to feel good about the future 584 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:55,560 Speaker 1: because your entire mental environment is being consumed by negativity. 585 00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:59,279 Speaker 1: So when we talk about digital resilience, when we talk 586 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:02,879 Speaker 1: about digital it's not just about avoiding the news, it's 587 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:09,239 Speaker 1: about actually having guardrails against just letting whatever is being 588 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,000 Speaker 1: said online, whatever is going on on the internet enter 589 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:15,600 Speaker 1: your life prominently and all the time. You know, at 590 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:20,040 Speaker 1: some point your desire to be informed could actually turn 591 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:24,239 Speaker 1: into over monitoring, could actually turn into an anxiety soothing mechanism, 592 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,520 Speaker 1: where again, we have this anxiety about our future and 593 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:30,880 Speaker 1: this anxiety about the world such that we like dig 594 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:33,640 Speaker 1: further in and we look for more information, and we 595 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,480 Speaker 1: look for more I don't know, more knowledge about what's happening, 596 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:42,200 Speaker 1: and it becomes counteractive, it becomes more harmful than it 597 00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:44,680 Speaker 1: is good. So it is okay to step back. It 598 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:47,279 Speaker 1: is okay to be like I don't actually want to 599 00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:53,160 Speaker 1: you know, Blair terrible world events into my eyes at 600 00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:57,040 Speaker 1: all time, and to just choose to put boundaries around it. 601 00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:59,600 Speaker 1: Choose to only look at the news for twenty minutes 602 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,480 Speaker 1: on your life break, Choose again to not have your 603 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,520 Speaker 1: phone in bed with you, to not be engaging with 604 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,360 Speaker 1: content online that is making you feel negative about the world, 605 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:12,680 Speaker 1: not listening to true crime, not always like engaging with 606 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:16,080 Speaker 1: the violent content. And I do actually think that that's 607 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:17,920 Speaker 1: going to make you feel better about not just the 608 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,720 Speaker 1: global future but your future as well. Just like balancing 609 00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:25,040 Speaker 1: your need to be informed and your need for closure 610 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:28,160 Speaker 1: or predictability with also your human need to just like 611 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,920 Speaker 1: have some peace and just to exist and just to 612 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:37,279 Speaker 1: not feel guilty about experiencing some level of joy. I think, 613 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,560 Speaker 1: as I wrap up this episode, let me just say, 614 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:42,279 Speaker 1: if you're in your twenties, I think it would be 615 00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:47,359 Speaker 1: abnormal to not have anxiety about the future. Right It 616 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: is like the most normal feeling to have this feeling 617 00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:54,880 Speaker 1: right now that you don't know and that you are unsure, 618 00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:57,759 Speaker 1: and that you really could do with somebody in your 619 00:37:57,800 --> 00:37:59,520 Speaker 1: life who had the crystal ball, who could just like 620 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 1: tell you how it's gonna work out. So have some 621 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:08,480 Speaker 1: kindness for yourself, have some grace, like just give yourself 622 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:11,279 Speaker 1: a little bit of credit. You are building a life. 623 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:13,400 Speaker 1: You are building something that has never been built before. 624 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:18,640 Speaker 1: Right your life, the blueprint for your life is completely individual, 625 00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:21,359 Speaker 1: completely up to you. There is no guide book, There 626 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:22,880 Speaker 1: is nobody who can tell you that it's going to 627 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:26,960 Speaker 1: be okay. And so facing up against all of those 628 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:32,480 Speaker 1: possibilities and the unpredictability of this moment is really emotionally taxing. 629 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:35,360 Speaker 1: And it is okay to sometimes feel like it is 630 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,400 Speaker 1: not going to work out as you would like it to. 631 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:39,880 Speaker 1: The thing is is that it so often does. And 632 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,319 Speaker 1: the thing to remind yourself is that those worst case 633 00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:46,640 Speaker 1: scenarios that your brain is cooking up there trying to 634 00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:50,720 Speaker 1: protect you, aren't always gonna come true. And in fact, 635 00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:53,560 Speaker 1: most of the time it is better than you expected, 636 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:55,799 Speaker 1: or it is in fact just neutral and you end 637 00:38:55,880 --> 00:39:00,239 Speaker 1: up coping anyways. So it's totally normal. You will make 638 00:39:00,239 --> 00:39:03,640 Speaker 1: it through this. Do not let your anxiety dominate all 639 00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:05,640 Speaker 1: the other good things that are happening in your life. 640 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,040 Speaker 1: And when it comes to your anxieties about the future, 641 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:13,799 Speaker 1: about political uncertainty, about global uncertainty, again keep saying, give 642 00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:17,120 Speaker 1: yourself some grace, but just please do remind yourself, and 643 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:19,280 Speaker 1: please do remember that there is good in the world. 644 00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:25,279 Speaker 1: That people are actively taking care of problems, looking out 645 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:29,000 Speaker 1: for problems, helping people in their community. You can be 646 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:33,480 Speaker 1: one of those people. And then additionally, you know, sometimes 647 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:35,440 Speaker 1: it is okay to take a break from that, and 648 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:40,719 Speaker 1: it is okay to not always be plugged into all 649 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:43,040 Speaker 1: the terrors of the world if it means that you 650 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:45,480 Speaker 1: can be a better community member, if it means that 651 00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,840 Speaker 1: you can do more for the people around you. So 652 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:51,320 Speaker 1: that is me getting off my soapbox. We are done 653 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:52,960 Speaker 1: for the day. I hope that this has made you 654 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,319 Speaker 1: feel a little bit better about whatever is going on 655 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:57,400 Speaker 1: in your life and how you're feeling about the world 656 00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:01,719 Speaker 1: around you. If you have made it this far, leave 657 00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:05,160 Speaker 1: a little emoji down below that symbolizes hope to you, 658 00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:08,960 Speaker 1: especially if you're listening on Spotify. Maybe share this episode 659 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:10,600 Speaker 1: with a friend who is also feeling a lot of 660 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:13,760 Speaker 1: anxiety about the future of their lives and the future 661 00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:16,640 Speaker 1: of the world, who you think could really benefit from 662 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:19,200 Speaker 1: this episode. Make sure that you are following us on 663 00:40:19,239 --> 00:40:22,000 Speaker 1: Instagram at that Psychology podcast. You can also follow us 664 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:24,040 Speaker 1: on substack. You can watch us on Netflix. There is 665 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:26,399 Speaker 1: so much that you can do. All of it will 666 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:30,080 Speaker 1: be in the description down below, but especially when it 667 00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:33,520 Speaker 1: comes to this topic in this episode, be safe, be kind, 668 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:36,839 Speaker 1: and most certainly be gentle with yourself. We will talk 669 00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:37,879 Speaker 1: very very soon.