When you finally face the truth that you can’t dictate how fast things go, you stop trying to outrun your anxiety, and your anxiety is transformed. Digging in to a challenging work project that can’t be hurried becomes not a trigger for stressful emotions but a bracing act of choice; giving a difficult novel the time it demands becomes a source of

What would it look like to take a soft step back and let things unfold on their own time for a bit longer? (This practice can be used on a smaller scale, too, like holding off on sending an email.)

Finally, be patient. In a famous letter to his friend Hume, Hunter S. Thompson argued that searching for the right path in life was important, even if it required many attempts. He told Hume that if he tried eight different paths and failed, that he must keep searching: “you must find a ninth path.”⁠28 Embracing the pathless path can be a slow and