6 ms·

This resonates with me on many levels. I worked at an Icelandic company for many years and some of my coworkers are like family - I never quite put my finger on

by klik99 3y ago

This resonates with me on many levels. I worked at an Icelandic company for many years and some of my coworkers are like family - I never quite put my finger on why I got so well with Icelandic people, but maybe it's because of this "þetta reddast" attitude - I also have this attitude, though it was something I got in my mid-20s - I used to always think the sky was falling and at some point I realized that it consistently stayed up.

0xEF 3y ago
> it was something I got in my mid-20s I'm past my prime, but would love to know your secret. I remember not wanting to return from Iceland, dreading the inevitable Anxiety Circus™ that was my life in the US. While in Iceland, I felt good about being alive. The way the people just get to the point and aren't afraid to say what they mean instead of this weird communication dance most Americans seem to do. The fact that yeah, danger looms in a variety of ways and the environment can be a bit hostile, but that's fine because we can deal with it together. It is difficult for me to call my experience there anything but refreshing...and yet I was not able to hang on to that. A fault of my own, to be sure, but seeing as you adopted it in your early years, was there anything in particular that you did to make that happen?
- klik99 3y ago
  Since you asked, but I dunno if this is applicable... I had a lot of anxiety growing up - from "If I fail this test then everything is downhill" in school to "If I miss this payment then everything is downhill" in the scare quotes "real world". I remember listing out on paper every time I could remember that I thought there would be dire consequences if I failed and there wasn't actually dire consequences. Maybe it was a kind of retrospective cognitive behavioural therapy? I noticed a pattern (though I didn't have the understanding to call it a pattern back then). But that was the moment that something switched and I had the confidence that even if shit hit the fan I would make it through. Probably it was the culmination of other realizations and not just this act by itself, but that was def the crystallization. And not that I'm always this way, but it's rare for me to fall back into the anxiety circus. It still takes some practice to maintain it in particularly tough situations. Maybe you associate that state of mind with a place because you felt it most strongly there? But I think a state of mind is part of you and you can cultivate that anywhere.

by klik99 3y ago

0xEF 3y ago

> it was something I got in my mid-20s I'm past my prime, but would love to know your secret. I remember not wanting to return from Iceland, dreading the inevitable Anxiety Circus™ that was my life in the US. While in Iceland, I felt good about being alive. The way the people just get to the point and aren't afraid to say what they mean instead of this weird communication dance most Americans seem to do. The fact that yeah, danger looms in a variety of ways and the environment can be a bit hostile, but that's fine because we can deal with it together. It is difficult for me to call my experience there anything but refreshing...and yet I was not able to hang on to that. A fault of my own, to be sure, but seeing as you adopted it in your early years, was there anything in particular that you did to make that happen?

klik99 3y ago
Since you asked, but I dunno if this is applicable... I had a lot of anxiety growing up - from "If I fail this test then everything is downhill" in school to "If I miss this payment then everything is downhill" in the scare quotes "real world". I remember listing out on paper every time I could remember that I thought there would be dire consequences if I failed and there wasn't actually dire consequences. Maybe it was a kind of retrospective cognitive behavioural therapy? I noticed a pattern (though I didn't have the understanding to call it a pattern back then). But that was the moment that something switched and I had the confidence that even if shit hit the fan I would make it through. Probably it was the culmination of other realizations and not just this act by itself, but that was def the crystallization. And not that I'm always this way, but it's rare for me to fall back into the anxiety circus. It still takes some practice to maintain it in particularly tough situations. Maybe you associate that state of mind with a place because you felt it most strongly there? But I think a state of mind is part of you and you can cultivate that anywhere.