how we survive _this_

Here is the hill I am prepared to die on: we as a culture have to stop believing that the goal is to eliminate discomfort. It’s time to dig deeper and learn to use these states rather than be used by them. To recognize that sometimes, feeling like shit isn't a bug in the system — it's a feature.

some of my best ideas, my most necessary changes, have come from exactly these periods of unbearable agitation. It's like my system knows something needs to shift before my conscious mind catches up, and all I can do is try to listen until the next right thing to do becomes clear. Yet in our “optimize everything” culture, this truth rarely gets tol

Let me be clear: I've been exercising regularly my entire adult life. I've logged hundreds if not thousands of hours on the meditation cushion and counting. I am incredibly well hydrated! I'm not writing this from some place of resistance to developing healthy habits. I’m writing this as someone who’s done the work and still wakes up some days feel

What if instead of waking up refreshed and starting every day with perfectly curated mornings and spotless emotional clarity, there's benefit to being an anxious, cranky, fearful, jittery wreck some days? What if we start recognizing that the jagged edges and rough mornings aren’t signs of failure, but essential features of fully lived life? After

These jagged, restless feelings aren’t just mine — they’re the growing pains of something bigger, the friction of an old world giving way to something new. And I don’t think the weight of all that is something we’re supposed to eliminate. I think it’s something we’re supposed to bear, to hold, and to transform.

this state of supreme irritation has helped me get crystal clear about something vital: we need to talk about our culture’s obsession with feeling good all the time.

these emotions weren’t distractions to be soothed with meditation apps or dietary changes. They were born from the raw, combustible energy of dissatisfaction, that uncomfortable but essential force that powers transformation, both personal and collective.

What I've come to understand is that “negative” states aren't the enemy. As awful as they feel, they're not something to be eliminated or optimized away. They're signals. Navigation points. When I'm in a heightened state of anxiety, it's not a character defect — it's a compass. And if anxiety can be a compass, maybe it’s time to completely reframe