Arthur Brooks

Yeah. I mean, this is one of the reasons is your weaknesses are your strengths and your strengths are your weaknesses. And you can try to eliminate your weaknesses, but all you'll wind up doing is eliminating your own success and satisfaction in life. That's just the way it is. You better learn how to manage your weaknesses and embrace them and be thankful for them.

Yeah. I mean, this is one of the reasons is your weaknesses are your strengths and your strengths are your weaknesses. And you can try to eliminate your weaknesses, but all you'll wind up doing is eliminating your own success and satisfaction in life. That's just the way it is. You better learn how to manage your weaknesses and embrace them and be thankful for them.

Yeah. I mean, this is one of the reasons is your weaknesses are your strengths and your strengths are your weaknesses. And you can try to eliminate your weaknesses, but all you'll wind up doing is eliminating your own success and satisfaction in life. That's just the way it is. You better learn how to manage your weaknesses and embrace them and be thankful for them.

That's the only, that's the way you got to live your life is the way that that works out. But it doesn't mean you don't go, they don't go unmanaged. So for something like anxiety, anxiety is unfocused fear. That's the best definition of anxiety. Fear in the ancestral environment was supposed to be episodic and intense and rare. You didn't feel fear that often. But when you did, man, it was all on.

That's the only, that's the way you got to live your life is the way that that works out. But it doesn't mean you don't go, they don't go unmanaged. So for something like anxiety, anxiety is unfocused fear. That's the best definition of anxiety. Fear in the ancestral environment was supposed to be episodic and intense and rare. You didn't feel fear that often. But when you did, man, it was all on.

That's the only, that's the way you got to live your life is the way that that works out. But it doesn't mean you don't go, they don't go unmanaged. So for something like anxiety, anxiety is unfocused fear. That's the best definition of anxiety. Fear in the ancestral environment was supposed to be episodic and intense and rare. You didn't feel fear that often. But when you did, man, it was all on.

You heard a snap of a twig behind you, you take off running and climb a tree, whatever it happened to be. In the modern environment, fear is chronic and mild. And the reason is because there's nothing trying to chase us down and kill us. That's very rare. On the other hand, there's Twitter. Which feels like it's stalking us in some sort or what X. It's social media. It's the modern environment.

You heard a snap of a twig behind you, you take off running and climb a tree, whatever it happened to be. In the modern environment, fear is chronic and mild. And the reason is because there's nothing trying to chase us down and kill us. That's very rare. On the other hand, there's Twitter. Which feels like it's stalking us in some sort or what X. It's social media. It's the modern environment.

You heard a snap of a twig behind you, you take off running and climb a tree, whatever it happened to be. In the modern environment, fear is chronic and mild. And the reason is because there's nothing trying to chase us down and kill us. That's very rare. On the other hand, there's Twitter. Which feels like it's stalking us in some sort or what X. It's social media. It's the modern environment.

It's stressful. It's cars honking. It's whatever it is. And so just the limbic system is mildly, the amygdala is sort of on sending a weak signal to the hypothalamus and stimulating the pituitary gland in a little bit and then asking the adrenal glands to kind of drip out.

It's stressful. It's cars honking. It's whatever it is. And so just the limbic system is mildly, the amygdala is sort of on sending a weak signal to the hypothalamus and stimulating the pituitary gland in a little bit and then asking the adrenal glands to kind of drip out.

It's stressful. It's cars honking. It's whatever it is. And so just the limbic system is mildly, the amygdala is sort of on sending a weak signal to the hypothalamus and stimulating the pituitary gland in a little bit and then asking the adrenal glands to kind of drip out.

cortisol so you're on and that you're getting this epinephrine so at two o'clock in the afternoon that pit of the stomach feeling and you know this feeling because this is your life right so how do you deal with that the answer is not to avoid you go to a doctor and a doctor might say take a benzodiazepine drug Take a little Xanax and you're going to feel a little bit better.

cortisol so you're on and that you're getting this epinephrine so at two o'clock in the afternoon that pit of the stomach feeling and you know this feeling because this is your life right so how do you deal with that the answer is not to avoid you go to a doctor and a doctor might say take a benzodiazepine drug Take a little Xanax and you're going to feel a little bit better.

cortisol so you're on and that you're getting this epinephrine so at two o'clock in the afternoon that pit of the stomach feeling and you know this feeling because this is your life right so how do you deal with that the answer is not to avoid you go to a doctor and a doctor might say take a benzodiazepine drug Take a little Xanax and you're going to feel a little bit better.

And that's true because that will mute the activity in the HPA axis. It'll be inhibitory. A much better way is to lean into what it was supposed to be, which is fear. And so a good exercise for somebody who's anxious like you or me, I'm super anxious person, is to, at the end of the day, say, okay, five things are freaking me out, but they're kind of like ghosts. I'm not focusing on them.

And that's true because that will mute the activity in the HPA axis. It'll be inhibitory. A much better way is to lean into what it was supposed to be, which is fear. And so a good exercise for somebody who's anxious like you or me, I'm super anxious person, is to, at the end of the day, say, okay, five things are freaking me out, but they're kind of like ghosts. I'm not focusing on them.

And that's true because that will mute the activity in the HPA axis. It'll be inhibitory. A much better way is to lean into what it was supposed to be, which is fear. And so a good exercise for somebody who's anxious like you or me, I'm super anxious person, is to, at the end of the day, say, okay, five things are freaking me out, but they're kind of like ghosts. I'm not focusing on them.

I'm actually blocking out the real source of my anxiety. I'm just anxious. Number one, what actually is the source of my anxiety? What is the fear that that's based on? Make it real. Write it down. What's the fear? Step two, what's the worst thing that can actually happen? Literally the worst thing that's actually going to happen. Sometimes it's like, I'm going to die. But sometimes it's like,

I'm actually blocking out the real source of my anxiety. I'm just anxious. Number one, what actually is the source of my anxiety? What is the fear that that's based on? Make it real. Write it down. What's the fear? Step two, what's the worst thing that can actually happen? Literally the worst thing that's actually going to happen. Sometimes it's like, I'm going to die. But sometimes it's like,