Would you rather have anxiety and freedom, or no anxiety and no freedom?
That’s not just a rhetorical question. It’s a decision most of us are making unconsciously every day.
Could anxiety be the threshold to freedom?
Could the current medical establishment — with its mandate to eradicate the “disorder” of anxiety — be eroding our collective willpower?
Today I offer you a new way of seeing anxiety, not as an enemy, but as an important step towards freedom and higher levels of consciousness.
We’ll cover this topic in three small bursts today:
1- Contentment: A Reflection.
2- The Dizziness of Anxiety
3- Freedom of Choice
And for those of you who feel intrigued by today’s gumption booster, I’ll leave you with a further reading and watching list in the footnotes!
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1- Contentment
Ahoy! Life has been bursting at supersonic speed these days, and I am hosting another Humans Being Together event at the farm on Oct 19th. Catch your Early Goat Tickets!
As the last sun-rays of summer slice through the fall fog, I dare say I feel content. Somehow all the losses over the past two years, have naturally cornered me into a beautiful existence. A life that I could not have expected to build, had I spent decades planning for it.
The more I commit to my vision, the more my vision commits to me.
”…the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.” Goethe
The gumption juices are flowing, and the sails of creativity are open.
Everything I desired only five years ago, is now a part of my life: The ability to work on my writing projects, a beautiful stable home that does not drain me financially, allowing me to work on a company that fills me with purpose, and supportive friendships who fill me up with joy.
Technically I should just be content. Right?
I feel quite free.
Truth is, I still find myself doom-scrolling, and reverting to bad habits. I see myself in the third person doing things that will harm me. I still feel sad and depressed every now and then. It would be a blatant lie to say otherwise.
I’m grateful for the sadness. I’m grateful for the anxiety.
Yes — truly. And today I want to show you why — through the lens of Kierkegaard.
Science is finally catching up to his philosophy. It’s not about avoiding anxiety or depression — it’s about learning to move through them.
Even when anxiety shows up in unhealthy ways, I’ve come to see it as a guide. A push toward a better version of my life.
It is urging me to take action.
Within taking action is my freedom.
“Boldness has genius…in it.”
Goethe
2- The Dizziness of Anxiety
It has been Six years now.
Six years since I have been tethered to a normal life with a salary.
Six years that I have been climbing this mountain and crawling on the edge of my abilities.
There were nights where I slept freezing in my car, times when I could not afford rent or groceries, and a moment where I faced bankruptcy. These moments rocked the foundations of my reality, and I quickly realized my capacity for contingency. There is also no way I could have made it here on my own without the help, kindness and grace of others.
I am still climbing up the mountain chasing my freedom, and the closer I get, the more anxiety I experience. Sometimes I look out onto the vista and go “damn the view is great up here! So glad I am on this path’“, and then there are other times, when I just feel so dizzy and disheartened that…
jumping off the cliff seems like an equally valid choice.
When I felt anxious before an exam during medical school, my father (also once a medical student himself pushing through anxiety) would say: “Only those who prepared well…feel stressed.” Meaning that, if I wasn’t anxious, then I wasn’t ready.
That brings me to today’s main quote by Kierkegaard which echoed that advice my father gave me a long time ago:
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”
Kierkegaard
He discusses anxiety not as something to avoid, but as something that we encounter on the way to freedom. Anxiety is not a side-effect. It is a by-product of living a life that is aligned with who you are.
Let’s be honest — existential philosophers can be dull to read. And often, they’re useless when it comes to daily life.
However, in moments where certainty dissolves into the boiling broth of life, when shit hits the fan, when the world lets you down, when the meaning you constructed around others shatter… Kierkegaard is your trusted best friend, and his ideas could be the light that leads you back home to yourself.
For Kierkegaard, and most existentialist philosophers that followed in his path, freedom lies in the human’s subjective ability to make choices.
But here is a big catch…making a decision and choosing something is —by definition— life altering. So when we realize that we have a choice to make, anxiety kicks in. That knowledge can be paralyzing.
In today’s world, more and more people have choices taken away from them by war, oppression of thought, and disease. However, fmri and pscyhology studies both confirm the idea that different humans (even identical twins) have variable responses to stressful times.
So from that lens, anxiety is not a disorder. It is a normal response to our maladapted world. Anxiety is an indication that a choice has to happen. If we don’t take action we remain stuck. Our bodies frail. Our dignity fades.
If we do make a choice however, then we are on the way to…
3- Freedom
Healthier decisions can become weightless when it comes to how we live our lives. Modern research in science and stress shows us that self-determination is a critical component of healthy cognitive functioning.
Anxiety is a natural feature of our brains. We have circuitry running through the oldest parts of our neurological wiring, comparing experience to memory, and alerting us about dangers, constantly, via the nerves that run down our spines.
The disorder is not anxiety. The disorder is our tragic inability to understand its purpose. Every human being with a functional central nervous system, experiences anxiety on a moment-by-moment basis.
The difference is that some of us understand its purpose in our lives.
When we understand anxiety in the context of our own vision, we start being able to make better choices. As Goethe said: Then providence moves too.
Anxiety isn’t a malfunction. It’s a signal.
And if you listen closely — not reactively, not fearfully — it might just be pointing to the very thing you’re here to do next.
So the question remains: Are you willing to feel it, to earn your freedom?
Additional Watching and Reading from Today’s Gumption
📚 Books
The Concept of Anxiety by Søren Kierkegaard
Kierkegaard’s foundational (and boring) exploration of anxiety as the condition for human freedom. Heavy but essential for the philosophically inclined.Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
A timeless account of suffering, choice, and the will to meaning — drawn from Frankl’s time in Nazi concentration camps.The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts
A beautifully written reminder that anxiety stems not from life, but from our refusal to live in the present.The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté
Maté deconstructs how Western society misunderstands anxiety and trauma — and offers a vision for holistic healing.The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
A punchy, no-fluff guide to overcoming internal resistance — and turning fear into creative power.
📺 YouTube Videos
Why Kierkegaard Thinks Anxiety is Good For You — Wise Crack
Hilarious, short and digestible primer explaining Kierkegaard’s core ideas, and how they show up in modern society.Miyamoto Musashi: The Japanese Philosopher Who Solved Overthinking — by The Pursuit of Wonder
Alan Watts – The illusion of control
One of Watts’ best talks on insecurity, fear, and the illusion of control.
🎬 Movies
Inside Out 2 (2024)
Pixar’s sequel dives into the emotional chaos of adolescence — introducing Anxiety as a key character. It beautifully illustrates how anxiety, while overwhelming, plays a crucial role in growing up and finding your voice.Into the Wild (2007)
A young man abandons society in search of freedom — and finds both liberation and existential dread. A visceral look at the cost of radical autonomy.The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
A quiet man trapped by fear and routine breaks free into the unknown — a feel-good ode to courage and inner transformation.A Beautiful Mind (2001)
A portrayal of living with mental complexity and learning to trust oneself despite chaos — a story of inner freedom.Ikiru (1952, Akira Kurosawa)
A bureaucrat faces his mortality and realizes he’s never truly lived. A quiet, powerful journey into purpose, anxiety, and the courage to act.