Soren Kierkegaard wrote, “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” That is so often the truth, in times of peace and prosperity. When things are going well. When food is plentiful, you have adequate shelter, and there is no real fear for your safety or the dismantling of a civil society. In other words, when we have choices.

You’re grandfather has said when he was growing up there was “an abundance of nothing.” He compares that to today, when he says there is an “abundance of everything.” Is it this abundance of everything, the overwhelming number of choices we have, that creates the dizziness? Today we have access to everything. You can pick up your phone and look at people living lives you wish you had, browse a million products you wish you owned. Maybe I am veering into envy, and away from freedom. Besides, Kierkegaard lived in the early 1800s. Certainly there was an abundance of nothing back then.

But what if our freedoms are limited, or taken away? Is the dizziness stabilized? What then comes from the suspension of freedom? From oppression? Is it a level of contentment? It seems counterintuitive that this would be true, but having fewer choices, restricting one’s life to a box, so to speak, might that relieve us from our constant striving, i.e. the dizziness of freedom? To a degree, possibly. That said, limiting freedoms more likely leads to a revolt of the individual’s mind and soul, and ultimately a sudden and radical demand for change by the masses.

I have gone off on such a tangent, I am not even sure of my point. I suppose it’s this: To cope with anxiety, find a way to be content with your place in life, whatever that may be. No easy task, for sure, but that is the solution. Try this next time anxiety flares. Set your eyes on a flower, the sky, a loved one. Marvel in your surroundings, at the miracle of life, and try to let all else melt away.

Somewhere I heard the phrase “restless striving.” This phrase has stayed with me, as I feel it very well describes the state in which many of us live. Perhaps it is our restless striving that carries so many of us from one phase of discontentment to another. 

Soren Kierkegaard wrote, “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” The fact that we have options, i.e. freedom, is the root cause of our anxiety. This freedom leads us to believe there is always something else out there that might be better for us. We could live in a different city, send our children to a different school, have a more fulfilling job, a better home, and so on. We are constantly pondering numerous alternatives to our current state, hence, the anxiety.

This day and age, contentment seems a dying concept. Is it possible to continue to strive, to work to achieve the goals you have set for yourself, while fully appreciating your current lot in life? Maybe you will accomplish great things. Maybe all of your dreams will come true. And maybe they won’t. There are many unknown variables that will dramatically alter your course, but if you are aware and can accept this inevitable randomness, and can continue to strive while remaining content with whatever good fortune has befallen you, you will experience a greater level of contentment. If you can do this while transcending society’s view that success is defined by financial status and material goods, better still.

“He is happy whom circumstances suit his temper; but he is more excellent who suits his temper to any circumstance.” –David Hume