Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom

a blurry photo of a train on a track

Not so much a quote, more Sรธren Kierkegaard’s concept that captures the terrifying realization of your own capacity and choices.

Kinda summed up by his quote –

โ€œThe most common form of despair is not being who you are.โ€

Facing Potential: This dread comes from recognising your own radical freedom and the vast, unwritten power of what you are capable of doing or becoming.

The Dizziness of Freedom: Kierkegaard wrote in The Concept of Anxiety that anxiety is like looking down from a high mountain or the edge of a tall building.

The Fear of Ability: Nothing forces you to jump, but the sheer terrifying knowledge that you can jumpโ€”that your future depends entirely on your own will and capabilityโ€”makes you dizzy.

Photo by Freddy Kearney on Unsplash

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