Hey, anyone got a solution for this feeling of generalized anxiety that won’t go away?
Because no matter what I do, or how good things are going at the moment, it feels like trouble is like, half a step behind me and gaining… do you ever feel like that, too?
I had lunch last week with a colleague who told me his clients all pretty much felt the same way.
All. Pretty much feel the same way.
(Which is nice in that at least I know I’m not alone.)
But really, I’d be happier if I were alone. At least then I’d feel there were something I could do about it. When it’s everyone, it makes me wonder if there’s a way out even if I’m perfect.
Now, I’m pretty good with the blinders—I’ve had plenty of success be staying focused on good things—but in those moments when the blinders come off and my humanity gets the better of me?
Damn.
Then they go right back on!
I can’t tell you how many times my wife and I have been out to dinner and we can literally see the stress in everyone’s faces at the restaurant. Or hear the edge in the voices.
Seriously.
It’s easy to spot fear. Especially the fear that comes from the anxiety. It’s the kind of fear you can’t name and can’t take direct action against. It’s not a fear like “I’m afraid of the dark.” It’s more like a selfishness that makes people hesitate before doing something for someone else. Or a sense that it’s OK to break promises in order to take care of one’s self.
You can watch it in action in the way others make decisions.
Sometimes, you can even see it in yourself.
I have.
Yuck-o.
But there you go.
I do my best to stay vigilant. I have a few wrongs I need to right. (Fortunately, just a few, but still, I’d rather not have any.) And like I said, I’m good with the blinders. (Turns out, my advice works. I take a healthy dose of it every day.)
Whoa. I know PETA wants me to care about the cute furry creatures, but I gotta tell ya, just being human these days can be rough!
So if you’re with me, let me know.
Maybe, if there’s enough of us, we can climb out of this hole together.
Or at least, we can get together and share a laugh or two while we ride this roller coaster called Life in 2010.
Jason Seiden is Co-founder and CEO of Ajax Social Media, a training company that shows professionals how use social media to work more effectively.
I'm the CEO of Ajax Social Media. We're helping 1 million people shine by making their online stories better. 
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I am right there with you my friend. I will help you man the lifeboat.
I have two theories.
Everyone has a scared, haunted, hunched-over look. Our lizard brains are trying to make us small and unnoticeable to the scary modern predators — at my workplace it’s massive budget cuts, transitions, losing whole departments, a few more years of uncertainty, you name it. I guess the best way to cope is to acknowledge the lizard brain, name the fears, know what’s going to get you and understand you can change and what you can’t.
For me, that uncertainty is coupled with being 40, weighing and measuring what I’ve done and not done, coping with not being an astronaut/best-selling author/ gourmet chef, and deciding what I AM going to do.
Either way, if you freeze, you may not get eaten, but you don’t go anywhere. And you may get eaten. So, uh, don’t freeze. Do something big and different (like take up painting, not like sell everything and become a hermit).
Great stuff, Jason. Way to keep it real. I feel that way from time to time. And by many yardsticks (cool post on that btw) I’d say you’re quite a successful guy. So if I’m understanding what you’re saying in this post, it’s interesting – and possibly comforting, but also a little disheartening, for me to now think, “hey, even with that level of success this emotion of anxiety still manifests.”
But if your colleague is right in that “everyone pretty much feels the same way,” I’d say thank the universe that we’re in a position where our anxiety is probably more about accomplishing the BEST goals for ourselves, rather than those whose anxiety may be about accomplishing more fundamental goals.
Like you said in a recent post though, when you “think about it” … can you help but laugh at the silliness of it (or of ourselves!)? Cheers.