The #1 Way Society Is Adding To Your Anxiety Explained In A 4 Min Animation
The #1 Way Society Is Adding To Your Anxiety Explained In A 4 Min Animation
On my journey to overcoming anxiety, I would spend hours diving into happiness rabbit holes. I was trying to build an understanding or framework of what happiness really was and how it worked.
I remember one evening diving deep into positive psychology when I came across a video that opened my eyes. It gave me incredible clarity of how my ideas of life and success had at one time been a huge driving factor behind the issues I had experienced.
Most people know that anxiety is one of the fasting growing issues in the western world today. No one is safe. Anxiety can occur in anyone at any moment. Although millions of people around the world experience chronic anxiety, it is still a poorly understood topic.
Your Hardwired Psychological Needs
One of the major causes of anxiety is how you subconsciously see yourself in the world. How do you measure up to other people? How well are you living up to the standard society creates?
You may think these things don't bother you, that you're not concerned by what others think but subconsciously you are. We all are. As we discussed in the article on subconscious psychological human needs, every human being is hardwired to care about their position in their 'tribe'.
Most marketing in the western world is based on this need. The need to fit in. Big businesses run commercials that agitate this need to such a degree many people, consciously or unconsciously, base every decision they make on how other people will perceive them. (This is one of the reasons why research has found cutting down TV and social media time leads to rapid increases in self-esteem and life satisfaction.)
Poison For Your Mental Wellbeing
It is installed in you so early, your brain assumes this is the game you have to play in order to fit in. Focusing on living up to your potential and growing as a human being is incredibly beneficial when it comes to your mental wellbeing. The problem occurs when your results only mean something when they are validated by the opinion of others. This is a race you can't possibly win.
Having goals, drives, or values that rely on something external for validation are called extrinsic goals. Extrinsic goals are poison to your mental health.
A Permanent State Of Psychological Instability
They're poisonous because subconsciously you feel your results are always at risk. You have to be perfect 24/7. Subconsciously you believe one slip could be the end of you, you're out of the tribe.
The video I mentioned earlier showcases this perfectly. This fantastic animation by Steve Cutts gives a clear picture of how a rat, trapped by the dogma of modern society, is stuck trying to gain 'Happiness' by improving its status. Watch it quickly and we'll continue discussing it in 4 minutes...
As you can see in the video, the rat is chasing happiness. It bounces from one promise to the next, looking for status. As Clive Hamilton wrote in his book, Growth Fetish, “People buy things they don't need, with money they don't have, to impress people they don't like.”
However, it is important to know we never join this rat race by choice. When the majority of people follow a belief that says, 'in order to fit in, we have to appear successful', it's only natural that we too will adopt this belief. When our society reaffirms this belief 24/7, we believe it at such a deep level we assume it is who we are.
It's the same driving force that fuels all of our bad habits. Your subconscious, emotional mind (or what NYU Social Psychologist, Jonathan Haidt describes as your elephant) shapes your thoughts, feelings, and emotions towards satisfying that belief.
The Way Out
