Anxiety Reflection 1

 “When I see an anxious person, I ask myself, what do they want? For if a person wasn’t wanting something outside of their own control, why would they be stricken by anxiety?” —EPICTETUS, discourses 2:13:1

Anxiety seems very prevalent in the post-COVID time, and I am recently finding Epictetus quotes coming up on my facebook. Epictetus was one of my favorite Stoic writers, and I wanted to explore a bit about the meaning of the above mentioned quote. I find it quite interesting, for one, that Epictetus refers to asking himself what an anxious person wants? Meaning, the roots of anxiety is always some kind of desire, whether it's a desire for recognition, certainty or security of some kind or another. This is an important element because a lot of times, unchecked desires can give rise to a feeling that we want more than we have to survive. It's interesting how the popular media also feeds into this by weaving a discourse around deficiency. We are continually told that we are not smart enough, healthy enough, disciplined enough, loved enough, etc. and this feeds into a general concern that we will start to lose important things that we need to survive. But when one closely examines their life circumstances, they might begin to wonder: is this want a need, or is it a preference?

The second part of this quote is even more intriguing because it brings up the issue of control. It may seem counterintuitive for a person to be less anxious about something they know is not within their control. After all, aren't anxious people most afraid of not being "in control" all the time? This is a tricky element in Epictetus and Stoic thinking in general which indeed needs further unravelling. Something that is within our control is something we have choice over, and thus anxiety is most consumed over trying to calibrate one's actions to be the most in control of it. But when it comes to something that we have truly established is beyond our control, is there anything to try to control in that instance? Once we establish, in fact, that something is not within our control, then we can finally realize that it's ok to relax into it. The situation simply has to be borne in as best a way as we can, without worry regarding whether we are doing things the right way or not. After all, if something cannot be forestalled, we might as well face it with a certain degree of acceptance, knowing that anything else will only add more to the suffering itself.