4 ms·

This is just my personal perspective for the most part, but I think a lot of the anxiety I feel stems from innate, primal survival instincts that have no real

This is just my personal perspective for the most part, but I think a lot of the anxiety I feel stems from innate, primal survival instincts that have no real need anymore in my life position. For instance even though I could support myself and probably a small family on my current compensation, but I still feel the urge to get a raise. I still worry about my motorcycle getting stolen off the street even though it's a leisure vehicle and is a used, small bike that costs less than what I make in a week. Neither failing to get a good raise nor having my motorcycle stolen has any significant impact on my basic needs (heck, the latter would statistically improve it), but I think a primal urge to acquire and keep resources fueling my anxiety over these things. These urges used to be necessary - the cave man that didn't worry about feeding himself and didn't worry about having his stuff stolen probably had a tougher time surviving - but I think the urges remain but there's no real outlet in many developed parts of the world. As an addendum, I think a good way to mitigate this is to find things that satisfy these urges when possible, and be serenely introspective about the things you can't. When I stress out about material resource, I calculate how long I can live comfortably with no income and try to tangibly see hoe wide my safety net is (granted, this is not something that may result in reduced stress for everyone). But some things just need to be accepted as a part of myself. For instance when I feel the temptation to sleep with other women I just have to accept that this a part of an innate instinct to impregnate as many women as possible, instilled through hundreds of millennia of evolution in a society vastly different from the one I currently live in.

gascan 8y ago
I still worry about my motorcycle getting stolen off the street even though it's a leisure vehicle and is a used, small bike that costs less than what I make in a week. Dude, that one's easy. Look at your cheap crappy bike and laugh. "Hah! What kind of self respecting thief would even bother stealing a crappy bike like this?"
- manfredo 8y ago
  That's essentially what I do. I deliberately park it next to more expensive motorcycles. As my MSF instructor told me, "By far the best theft deterrent is to park next to the Harley-Davidson".
  - gascan 8y ago
    Then don't worry about it anymore, you're covered :)
SubuSS 8y ago
I would contest the conflation of financial security with loss aversion / primal urges: - Loss aversion for me for physical goods is today defined by value of the item relative to my income. I probably won't fret over losing a water bottle or tearing a t-shirt, but losing my house is a real problem. 1 week salary worth for me is a ton of money since it has the potential to add up quickly - while I have gotten to a point where I have to lose way more water bottles than I got to get to a worry state. When I lost one of my bicycles - I was pissed but thankfully it didn't break it. I still followed up with cop reports etc. because it worried me about the garage safety. This doesn't tie into urges / financial security at lower levels. - Financial security chase is innate - probably the closest to a primal urge. But I worry about calling it that because I don't know if having enough resources for the long term was a real concept. I can see how animals look at short term need addressal, I don't know if they really have a safety net mentality. That is a new one - but I may be splitting hairs. My theory is that it is a harkening to 'retirement' - something that's out of reach for more and more folks every day. - primal urges for me are the base drives, the lower level of Mazlow's Hierarchy + progenies. RE Anxiety's link to anyone of these: I am assuming that comes down to your current life situation + personal makeup. Finally I always assumed folks talk about 'Medical depression' as a diagnosed scientifically + possibly treated mental issue. I wouldn't conflate that with Anxiety either. Anxiety might have you feeling down - but that isn't depression. The fact that we naturally tend to call feeling down as 'depressed' is probably one of the reasons depression doesn't get the attention it needs. (Again I don't understand depression myself thankfully, I am placing my trust in the doctors here).

gascan 8y ago

I still worry about my motorcycle getting stolen off the street even though it's a leisure vehicle and is a used, small bike that costs less than what I make in a week. Dude, that one's easy. Look at your cheap crappy bike and laugh. "Hah! What kind of self respecting thief would even bother stealing a crappy bike like this?"

manfredo 8y ago
That's essentially what I do. I deliberately park it next to more expensive motorcycles. As my MSF instructor told me, "By far the best theft deterrent is to park next to the Harley-Davidson".
- gascan 8y ago
  Then don't worry about it anymore, you're covered :)

SubuSS 8y ago

I would contest the conflation of financial security with loss aversion / primal urges: - Loss aversion for me for physical goods is today defined by value of the item relative to my income. I probably won't fret over losing a water bottle or tearing a t-shirt, but losing my house is a real problem. 1 week salary worth for me is a ton of money since it has the potential to add up quickly - while I have gotten to a point where I have to lose way more water bottles than I got to get to a worry state. When I lost one of my bicycles - I was pissed but thankfully it didn't break it. I still followed up with cop reports etc. because it worried me about the garage safety. This doesn't tie into urges / financial security at lower levels. - Financial security chase is innate - probably the closest to a primal urge. But I worry about calling it that because I don't know if having enough resources for the long term was a real concept. I can see how animals look at short term need addressal, I don't know if they really have a safety net mentality. That is a new one - but I may be splitting hairs. My theory is that it is a harkening to 'retirement' - something that's out of reach for more and more folks every day. - primal urges for me are the base drives, the lower level of Mazlow's Hierarchy + progenies. RE Anxiety's link to anyone of these: I am assuming that comes down to your current life situation + personal makeup. Finally I always assumed folks talk about 'Medical depression' as a diagnosed scientifically + possibly treated mental issue. I wouldn't conflate that with Anxiety either. Anxiety might have you feeling down - but that isn't depression. The fact that we naturally tend to call feeling down as 'depressed' is probably one of the reasons depression doesn't get the attention it needs. (Again I don't understand depression myself thankfully, I am placing my trust in the doctors here).