> For me, part of the process of dealing with anxiety (amongst others, like mindfulness and self-kindness) is learning how to achieve my ambitions by making rea

> For me, part of the process of dealing with anxiety (amongst others, like mindfulness and self-kindness) is learning how to achieve my ambitions by making realistic goals, and learning how to feel pleasure in "small", consistent achievements (the depressed brain is excellent at making every achievement seem worthless). Feeling pleasure in these small achievements is important in order to fuel the necessary consistency of said achievements. I try to stick to this strategy. Often times though, like when I watch an interview of a young(ish) founder of a company or read about a Fields medal winner on Quanta magazine, a cycle of self-pity mixed with self-hate and a strong feeling of worthlessness begins. I begin to day-dream of life trajectories when I wasn't drowned in trauma and was actually able to achieve my potential. Then it becomes harder to get back to focusing on my smaller objectives as they start to feel mundane. I realize on an intellectual level that these smaller objectives are what will help me in the long run but on an emotional level I feel worthless and leading an inconsequential life. However, I do thank you for writing up your experience. I feel it will help me re-enforce my strategy and not get caught up in the webs of emotional abuse my inner critic.