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Anxiety-management tricks that I personally employ is to either refer to a group/class I find myself in as "we" or to use passive rather than active voice. The

by 9214 6y ago

Anxiety-management tricks that I personally employ is to either refer to a group/class I find myself in as "we" or to use passive rather than active voice. The former I borrowed as a kid watching Spider Man 1994, where Brock/Venom symbiont calls themselves "we"; the latter is an inspiration from David Bohm's rheomode. Both shift the perspective from your ego to the environment that it is embedded into and is a part of: e.g. a company, a crowd, a body ("we" as a human microbiome), humanity, or nature itself; not as an object, but as an ongoing process, from being to becoming. A giving up of ontological primacy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_without_organs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_without_organs

mundo 6y ago
Relatedly, I've noticed that video game youtubers almost always refer to themselves plurally (as in, "We're going to take our main army over here" or "We won!"). I assumed this was to cultivate a sense of belonging or identity for their followers, but separating their performing-identity from their regular identity could have a lot to do with it as well.
- crooked-v 6y ago
  "We" is also common for old-school Let's Play series, dating back to the screenshot-only days, though those often have some level of voting or other interactivity that gives some fan involvement in each segment.
shoes_for_thee 6y ago
Shifts to passive voice make me immediately wonder what the speaker is trying to hide. I notice it immediately and it grates.
- tryauuum 6y ago
  Yeah, but I hope the parent comment's author doesn't refer to himself as "we" while speaking in public
  - 9214 6y ago
    What I described is more of an internal monologue thing, not even at linguistic level but as an attitude and stance towards stress with anxiety. Should have phrased it better.
    - tryauuum 6y ago
      You phrased it alright
tabtab 6y ago
"We are the Borg. Do you want fries with that?..."
tryauuum 6y ago
It sounds pretty cool. I heard a similar thing — someone advised to completely ignore word "I" in writing. So you don't write e.g. "I felt disappointed that moment", you write "There was a feeling of disappointment then". Don't know if it helps with anxiety, but nevertheless it makes you think more while writing, and that is fun.

by 9214 6y ago

mundo 6y ago

Relatedly, I've noticed that video game youtubers almost always refer to themselves plurally (as in, "We're going to take our main army over here" or "We won!"). I assumed this was to cultivate a sense of belonging or identity for their followers, but separating their performing-identity from their regular identity could have a lot to do with it as well.

crooked-v 6y ago
"We" is also common for old-school Let's Play series, dating back to the screenshot-only days, though those often have some level of voting or other interactivity that gives some fan involvement in each segment.

shoes_for_thee 6y ago

Shifts to passive voice make me immediately wonder what the speaker is trying to hide. I notice it immediately and it grates.

tryauuum 6y ago
Yeah, but I hope the parent comment's author doesn't refer to himself as "we" while speaking in public
- 9214 6y ago
  What I described is more of an internal monologue thing, not even at linguistic level but as an attitude and stance towards stress with anxiety. Should have phrased it better.
  - tryauuum 6y ago
    You phrased it alright

tabtab 6y ago

"We are the Borg. Do you want fries with that?..."

tryauuum 6y ago

It sounds pretty cool. I heard a similar thing — someone advised to completely ignore word "I" in writing. So you don't write e.g. "I felt disappointed that moment", you write "There was a feeling of disappointment then". Don't know if it helps with anxiety, but nevertheless it makes you think more while writing, and that is fun.