Shawn ButtnerCertified High Performance Coach and Podcaster Clone

Pt 2 The see-saw of anxiety and pursuit

13 Aug 2023 · 1 min

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In this spoken monologue, the presenter describes a mental “see‑saw” that oscillates between anxiety and depression depending on whether a person pursues or avoids their goals. When one ignores fear and refrains from acting, the fear recedes into a background of helplessness and hopelessness, manifesting as depression. Conversely, when one decides to chase a desired ambition—such as starting a company—anxiety inevitably surfaces because the path is fraught with competition, uncertainty, and setbacks. The speaker emphasizes that this anxiety is a normal, unavoidable part of the journey and should be accepted rather than avoided, positioning the tension between anxiety and pursuit as a necessary dynamic for growth.

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Over the course of time, that fear, if we do not pay attention to it, eventually falls into the background of, okay, I am not, I'm not going to pursue those things. And so I'm retreating into this sense of helplessness, of hopelessness, AKA depression. So the seesaw of anxiety is if I don't pursue what I want to pursue, then I might experience anxiety, I might experience depression, then I should go pursue what I want to pursue. Here's the difficult part is if you're going after the things that you want to go after, guess what you're going to face. You're going to face anxiety. It's inevitable. It's okay. Like, I want to start a company, I'm passionate about that. The business world is a challenging world, right? You're going to. You're going to face competition, you're going to face ups and downs and upheaval and stuff like that. And along the course of that journey and all those different things, you encounter bang, anxiety in your face, right?