Yes, We Need Our VULNERABILITY Too

 

Many of us [and I'm many times guilty of it in the past] fear and/or loathe VULNERABILITY.  I would openly admit that I both feared and loathed VULNERABILITY countless times in the past, [wrongly] thinking that it was my nemesis.  Lo and behold, after repeating the same mistaken loatheness many times in the past, I was shocked with my own self WHEN I did a 180-degree turn, NOT only to look favorably at my own VULNERABILITY but to embrace it unconditionally as I recognized my ANCHORS IN LIFE in those moments📗📙📘

BUT for now, please lend me your ears.  DIDN'T you gain so much during your VULNERABILITIES?  Especially WHEN you recognized your ANCHORS IN LIFE?  Sadly, the vicious cycle of life brings us to the top of the world, WHEN we have all the material things, all the successes, name it, leading us at times 'intoxicated' [figuratively IF NOT literally] for all those blessings heaped upon us.  NOT until we stumble and fall flat on our face, then we realized our VULNERABILITY until at some point, our yet incognito ANCHOR IN LIFE comes to literally rescue us.  Sounds like a corny stereo-type kind of script BUT let's admit it, this sort of corny narrative is most common to hear💧💧💧

Let's recall those times after we went over a hump, hurdling a challenge. WHAT would we hear often?  I REALLY APPRECIATE THE SUPPORT.  Yes, most of the time, people just want to feel heard and understood [and NOT bombarded with fixes and fault-finding].  Offering genuine emotional support and truly listening and respecting boundaries, and guarding someone's trust AS IF it were his own are WHAT make people realize that they found their ANCHOR IN LIFE💚💛💜

Allow me to ask this sensitive question:  Does VULNERABILITY improve our relationships?  I think so.  SO HOW?  WHEN we're vulnerable, DIDN'T we find our hitherto unknown greater strengths?  OR improved self-acceptance? All leading towards reinforcing relationships?  As VULNERABILITY is a state of emotional exposure that comes with a degree of uncertainty, it behooves that we learn HOW to be VULNERABLE that comes along with our willingness to accept the emotional risk that comes from being open and willing to love and be loved.  And WHILE VULNERABILITY is a very common fear, once we understand that central emotional challenge, experts opine that we can develop a deeper appreciation WHY VULNERABILITY is worth the effort💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  Let's NOT debate on this, that our VULNERABILITY allows us to foster deeper relationships and even greater acceptance BUT again, let's temper expectations by admitting that it's always easy.  My personal sharing here is that it was a tough grind spanning rough patches of the long roads as it entails our own selves to talk and admit our own mistakes, being honest with our needs and most importantly, being remorseful and committed to turn a NEW LEAF come NEXT DAY.  Otherwise, NOT to scare you dude, knock on wood, you might end up in that scary VULNERABILITY LOOP.  Oh No😡😡😡

The Worst Disservice Is For Us To Avoid Our Feelings

 

All along, we're challenged and sometimes befuddled WHEN other people either avoid OR ignore us, much to our chagrin.  BUT can we agree that the WORST DISSERVICE ever is WHEN we AVOID our own FEELINGS?  So, WHEN was the last time we felt anxious, with our body braced and seemingly on the edge?  It could have been WHEN your partner/spouse was late coming home and you couldn't reach him/her on the mobile phone [SOUNDS FAMILIAR !@#$%?] OR at a time WHEN you were beating a deadline to submit a report OR a client proposal, your laptop crashed OR for a family-man, your child on 'full-blown' tantrums at the convi store OR WHILE you await your very own medical test results, ouch😡😡😡

And WHAT's the most curious thing about those scenarios?  We'd like to hear HOW YOU RESPONDED IF you were in any of those scenarios.  Maybe you noticed your heart racing to a beat beyond the normal pace?  OR breathing in a shallow way, anticipating an illness?  OR simply grabbing a bag of cheese puffs?  OR plunging into online shopping and incessantly ADDING TO CART based on impulse?  The experts tell us that any of these behaviors are very normal to be manifested BUT WHAT's interesting to hear is the reason WHY ARE WE BEHAVING IN THESE WAYS???  The long and short of it is that, we are ESCAPING from our inner lives, and the experts opine that this happens in those moments WHEN we are confronted with our own vulnerabilities❌❌❌

To piggy-back in their 'technical' explanations, we are triggered by those uncomfortable sensations in our bodies heralding emotions stirring deep beneath us and we end up doing anything rather than face them.  WHAT's very scary here is that many kinds of sufferings can arise from this dilemma.  Indeed, research suggests that people WHO avoid their own emotions tend to have HIGHER PAIN LEVELS, INCREASED CARDIVASCULAR RISK and HIGHER CANCER RATES [and that's besides depression, anxiety and even relationship problems]💥💥💥

SO HOW?  The experts counsel us that instead of avoiding WHAT we feel WHEN we are vulnerable we need to shift our approach. We need to slow down and truly feel our bodies, so we can soothe our nervous systems and access our underlying emotions.  And the experts assure us that if we take this path, we will be able to LET GO of the urgent need for certainty and control that would lead to anxiety problems, release the self-criticism that leads to apathy and depression😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  Hearing from experts, key here is HOW TO RECOGNIZE UNREST [within us] as we are vulnerable with limited control over the things that matter to us.  Verily, true, WHETHER we want things we like to always stay the same, OR we want things we DON'T like to change, it is NOT entirely in our own hands.  And just WHEN we are confronted with our vulnerability, that inner feeling disrupts us.  SO HOW?  Experts tell us to EMBRACE UNREST as part of our journey in life, without a perfect endpoint.  It's about changing the way of being yourself WHEN you DON'T feel good, so WHEN UNREST calls, you approach discomfort and access the power of your emotion.  Only then you can turn things around dude💚💛💜

Kicking The Can Down The Road

 

Per se, KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD is a no-no.  BUT alas, we've all done that at some points in our life [several times in the past, I did that BUT I felt it was the best informed decision I could have arrived at, at those times].  YET, we all heard many times this one-liner 'EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM' and this CAN'T be more relevant for those about to graduate from school and contemplating on their next transition📗📙📘

True, it's tough enough to transition from one phase in our life to the next one.  Be it from school life to the workplace, OR from being part of a closely knit family to settling down, OR transitioning from your country and migrating.  Regardless of the circumstances in one's transition, the recurring question I would often hear is:  SHOULD I TAKE ON THIS OPTION NOW?  BTW, WHEN I was still very much active in the job market, that was my common dilemma💟💟💟

BUT the stark truth is that, WHENEVER we come across an opportunity, there is NO right OR wrong answer WHETHER to grab that opportunity OR not.  Allow me to share HOW I handled that situation.  IF I was in a pressing and/OR urgent situation that needed resolution [and closure], I WON'T have the slightest hesitation to grab such an opportunity.  Having said that, many times in the past, I did KICK THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD.  WHY?  Because there was NO urgency during those times💚💛💜

WHEN the stars seemed to have aligned in my favor, I did get into multiple situations WHEREIN I had options right on my fingers for my picking, YET those were the times WHEN even the clock was NOT ticking to pressure me to come up with a judgment call.  You might ask, WHAT's the very key in coming up with such judgment call, I'll always ask myself this MUST-ASK question:  IS THE STATUS QUO ACCEPTABLE IF I SKIP THIS OPPORTUNITY???

Our takeaway:  This may boil down to semantics BUT two keywords that are key for that tipping point are ESSENTIAL versus DESIRABLE.  If the decision-making is essential given the circumstances, then it becomes a no-brainer BUT if coming up with a decision [and a choice at that] is DESIRABLE, that gives us the 'wiggle room to buy time until it becomes mature for a decision.  BUT there's a catch here, WHEN we hold in abeyance a decision, there is NO guarantee that if you're KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD, that will remain there, waiting for your decision forever.  NO Senor!@#$%?

That Roadmap From DREAMs To GOALs To PLANs To ACTION

Many claim that the toughest travel is a 'SOLO TRAVEL' trekking the most remote places like Nepal alongside its very steep mountains.  Setting aside all the simile and metaphors, to me, the toughest travel is that journey traversing the roadmap we plotted [hoping one has plotted his life roadmap] WHICH all kickstarts with our DREAMS translated to GOALS, concretized to PLANs and transformed into concrete ACTIONS that would and should yield the RESULTS and OUTCOMEs we expected.  Indeed, that ROADMAP is long winding, circuituous and at times twisting many miles-long road.  BUT that is a given.  The wild cards in our equation in life are the variables that start off with our DREAMS.  Sadly, many of us end up stalled for quite a considerable time with our DREAMS, day-in day-out📗📙📘

Verily true, the archtype of life is our journey and our ROADMAP would help us chart our life-long trip throughout all the changes and transition that will happen many times [at unique and different circumstances].  Obviously, that ROADMAP will help us visualize our life itself, from WHERE one is coming from and to WHERE he wants to end up as his destination.  Learning HOW to navigate throughout those changes and transitions will help us gain control of our life's circumstances, even for those unexpected ones that will spring out, catching us offguarded over and over again.  If there is one thing that is NOT so obvious, our life journeys are both inner and outer.  The events of our outer journey, those cumulative transitions of a lifetime, will be somewhat similar for all of us WHO share the human experience.  On the other hand, our personal inner journey is a much more 'private affair'.  And our life ROADMAP is a reliable context every step of our way💥💥💥

NOT akin to that typical Carnival Cruise itinerary WHICH is very short-term, from point to point, the nature of our life revolves around CHANGE and all of us, like it OR NOT, will go through tons and tons of CHANGES, and going through those multiple life transitions will be, many times, akin to tought nuts to crack BUT they are more comparable to bridges WHEREIN even if we are suffering from Gephyrophibia [that's FEAR of BRIDGES], if we gotta cross the bridge, then we got to cross it😡😡😡

Beyond all the normal CHANGES we would anticipate, there will be CHANGES and transitions we least expect OR ones WHICH we are NEVER prepared to face and handle OR those we are aware and conscious BUT WHICH we DON'T want to see happening at all.  Sounds familiar?  YES, LIKE WHEN I migrated 'incognito' to Singapore, those years WHERE it was big news for someone to be migrating there.  BUT the questions staring right in my face then was HOW to cope with encounters and transitions that will be either that difficult, challenging and maybe overwhelming.  One measure I embraced was to learn to be prepared for WHATEVER comes your way.  And HOW do we do that?  I'll be the first one to admit that experience is the best teacher.  Once something happened to you, it will NO longer be an UNKNOWN variable as it becomes a learning experience [after all the challenges you faced]💚💛💜

Our takeaway:  Through the years, I always SET my own expectations.  Before I would embark on a new endeavor, I would map my trip as best as I can.  And for things beyond my control, I always had to reinforce my awareness + consciousness that times there will be humps and roadblocks WHERE I need to detour or worse, stretch my patience WHEN stuck.  Yes dude, that ROADMAP from our DREAMs To GOALs To PLANs To ACTION should be at the very core of our proactiveness in life😌😌😌

When Success & Satisfaction Get Mixed Up

 

Is SUCCESS better than SATISFACTION?  OR is it the other way around?  Verily true, everyone of us, even WHEN we're still attending university, the word that rings the loudest is spelled S-U-C-C-E-S-S.  NOT a surprise because that was one of the first words I came to like even WHEN I was struggling with the rudiments of spelling.  BUT over time, it's been shown 99% of the time that many of those SUCCESSFUL ones struggle to enjoy their own SUCCESSES and accompishments.  WHY???

WHILE this has been the subject of multiple studies, the results point to one too many possible factors to explain WHY regardless of our SUCCESSES. very rarely it leads to lasting satisfaction.  And the most common culprits are psychological factors briefly explained as follows:

• THAT 'Arrival Fallacy' - THAT mistaken belief that reaching a goal will bring sustained happiness [BUT that's not true] 
• THAT Dopamine's short-term effect - The pleasure from achieving goals is temporary as our brain's reward system is designed to seek new challenges again & again

• THAT cognitive bias - WHEN our brain focuses more on the difficulties rather than savoring positive experiences 
• THAT 'high achiever' pressure - Successful folks may feel a constant need to maintain achevements to feel worthy and that can lead to burnout
• THAT changing desire - Our goals & values can change over time.  WHAT brought satisfaction earier might NOT be meaningful later

So, the bigger question then is WHAT leads to SATISFACTION?  There is NO SIZE THAT FITS ALL here as an answer but simply put, it all boils down to meaningful pursuits.  Finding satisfaction comes from pursuing activities and paths that are personally meaningful and desired, rather than just the effects of achieving them😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  Allow me to take a leaf from my own life journey WHEREIN I have to admit, contrary to WHAT's happening almost in any narrative, I cherished and relished every WIN I achieved, even if those were the smalles WINs I can ever achieve.  How I managed to kind of 'rest on my laurels' for each milestone achievement, I always reassessed my situation and once I achieve even the smallest of the small WINs, I always looked at it from a positive perspective, thankful enough to achieve it.  On the other hand, much as I am as ambitious as I can be, I always ensured that both my feet are very much 'ON THE GROUND'.  That way, I DON'T succumb to the insatiable desires WHERE many folks fall prey quite numerous times.  And as this poster goes, 'OUR SATISFACTION IS MEASURED BY OUR SOULD, MIND and HEART'.  Well said😃😃😃

That 'TIPPING POINT'!

 

Tough cookie question here:  WHAT separates those WHO fail versus those WHO succeed.  To put things in perspective, almost all studies showed that, up front, nothing sets apart people as almost all of us are exposed to similar opportunities, even similar risks along the way.  BUT ones people end up either as a failure OR success, the blurred differentiations become clearer.  Regardless, everything boils down to learning from one's mistakes, LIKE for instance, continuing to improve the painting an artist is laboring rather than scrapping them altogether, OR recognizing which sections OR scripts of the developed codes need to be rewritten OR even redesigned!!!

I thought I should share this quotable quote from the late Philippines philanthropist Henry Sy because it says all that has to be said.  BUT besides learning and picking up lessons for each failed attempt, psychologists have coined that 'TIPPING POINT' WHICH defines our ability to build on our earlier attempts and for us to be at that 'TIPPING POINT', experts say it should be at least a hair above the threshold💚💛💜

Otherwise, we might be doomed to keep churning out failure after failure forever.  Researchers opined that people on those two sides of the threshold could be the same kind of people BUT alas, they might likely end up with two totally different outcomes.  Using that insight, researchers were able to successfully predict an individual's long-term success with just a small amount of information about that person's initial attempts.  A growing body of research does support the idea that FAILURE can make one better off in the long run.  Another study even showed that an early career setback will often set us up for a later success💥💥💥

BUT before we jump with endless exhilaration, stories told over and over again [LIKE those kof JK Rowling, Henry Ford amongst others], our road to SUCCESS typically involves more than just a single setback.  Bluntly, we just DON'T fail once.  Instead, we fail OVER and OVER again.  And WHILE that litany of failures may make the MUSKs of the world better off, it seems to thwart many other people❎❎❎

Our takeaway:  Listening to experts, they theorized that SUCCESS must be the result of one OR two basic phenomena, LEARNING OR LUCK.  Successful people are either improving steadily in their area over time OR they are the beneficiaries of chance.  BTW, if WINs are primarily the result of chance, all attempts are equally likely to either SUCCEED OR FAIL, just like a toss coin.  Key thing here is that if are are to learn from our FAILED attempts, let us learn more incorporating components of the FAILED attempts into the later attempts TILL you succeed.  That TIPPING POINT should lead us to succeed, eventually😌😌😌

When DOUBTS Lead to CERTAINTY

 

We all shun off DOUBTS.  I myself, if I had my wife, I DON'T want to have anything that has got to do with DOUBTS.   WHY?  DOUBTs DON'T bring you over and cross-over via a clear path of a thought process.  BUT we are reminded by psychologists that EVERY BREAKTHROUGH STARTS IN THE DARK.  LIKE WHEN a scientist spots an odd pattern in the data.  LIKE WHEN a doctor senses something's OFF even before the test results arrive.  LIKE a designer noticing a friction point a metric CAN'T even explain.  In these circumstances, definitely CERTAINTY will come in, BUT much later.  After starting with a guess, sharpened by DOUBT and eventually tested by reality

Experts shared that everything starts with an incomplete information, leading to abductive reasoning.  19th century Philosopher Charles Sanders was quoted that DOUBT is the very engine of 'real thought'.  LIKE a designer noticing confusion before it happens.  LIKE a scientist forming a theory from partial data.  LIKE a product team guessing WHY a metric dropped.  Experts also advised that 'abductive reasoning' is a trainable skill alongside one's mindset, one that resists rushing toward certainty and treats wrong turns as part of a process

Experts advised us that transforming doubt into a decision tool helps us with the incidental discomfort WHEN the outcome remains uncertain, effectively a DOUBT.  Studies by Canadian researchers also concluded that DOUBT can be a powerful tool for improving decision-making and ensuring that new OR bold ideas are supported by rigorous evidence.  True, questions arising from DOUBT do open the possibilities leading to complex problem-solving, critical thinking and even creativity

Recently, I got curious with a research study WHICH concluded that our brain craves for CERTAINTY and in effect, that feeling of CERTAINTY leads us to feel rewarding, LIKE a nice shot of dopamine WHEN we believe we know OR are certain of something, thus closing a 'cognitive loop' [to borrow the jargon from experts].   WHEREAS a sense of UNCERTAINTY OR DOUBT generates a strong, psychological threat response, something our brain wants to avoid❎❎❎

Our takeaway:  Listening to a famous local motivational speaker recently, he urged us all that to thrive in this new world, we need to notice WHEN to operate from a position of UNCERTAINTY and start to consider the notion that even DOUBT might serve us better.  That is NOT to suggest that we develop a chronic lack of self-confidence and start to DOUBT everything we do.  The key message here is that we develop enough self-confidence to accept that maybe at times, CERTAINTY might even be misplaced OR worse, unhelpful.  YES, CERTAINTY will NOT help us to solve complex problems, think critically and create innovate solutions.  Next time UNCERTAINTY and DOUBT surfaces, let us embrace it as it will eventually lead to CERTAINTY💚💛💜

Don't Get Fixated With The SYMPTOMS!

 

I am and NOT and NEVER could claim to be a medical expert WHEN it comes to discussing SYMPTOMS BUT given the prevalence of one too many travails of human challenges that seem to be SYMPTOMATIC of an illness OR a problem, it is quite sad to observe that a plurality of us [if NOT a majority] are more FIXATED in FIXING the SYMPTOMS instead of attacking the very root cause and FIXING it instead📗📙📘

Through the years @workplace, we CAN'T get misguided OR lost as long as everyone in our operations delivery teams would consistently follow the Quality components with focus on CPAR [Corrective and Preventive Action Requests].  Sadly, quality management and its allied best practices CAN'T be rolled out in our personal daily lives [as easy as it is rolled out @workplace].  WHY?  Maybe it's because of our biases.  OR maybe it's because of the habits we have formed and embedded over time, LIKE, with the ease and convenience of the neighborhood pharmacy, it is quick and easy to buy OTC [over the counter] medications to quick fix a symptom bothering us now!!!

Frankly, if I wear the hat of a medical frontliner, my spiel will be this.  If you are going through any form and shape of a SYMPTOM, let us all agree that those SYMPTOMS are an outlet of a much deeper issue that could be likely fueling them and are NOT the very problem you suspected at the outset.  By recognizing that the SYMPTOMS are NOT the problem itself, it will lead us towards that path of awareness towards the root cause❎❎❎

Verily true, BAND-AID remedies are good and effective for a certain amount of time BUT sadly, those are NOT the fixes and solutions to a problem.  We DON'T need to rattle off statistics of divorce across continents and cultures BUT the divorce rates across Europe, Americas and Asia alone are NOT minuscule statistics that can be just ignored.  BUT DON'T we think that, to be fair to couples, many exerted efforts BUT sadly, many attempted the BAND-AID remedies???

Our takeaway:  Regardless of the nature of a problem, be it health-related, financial, commercial OR even legal, the shared commonality across all these settings is that WHEN a problem arises, let us NOT spend so much time getting hog-tied by the BAND-AID remedies.  While the pharmacy's OTC remedies can seem to fix things, those are BAND-AID solutions NO less.  And if we're talking about brewing disconnects within relationships, taking NO steps to find for the root cause will very likely lead to the problem exacerbating and skidding down south UNTIL things will go way out of hand, unresolvable.  WHAT happens next, your guess is as good as mine, at that point in time, the probability of finding the final fix to the very root cause of the problem may be nothing more than just a figment of one's imagination!@#$%?

Is 'GETTING OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE' A Bad Advice?

 

HOW many times have we heard ALMOST everyone egging us to GET OUT OF OUR COMFORT ZONES?   Probably a zillion times.  Be it from our parents, mentors, counsellors, and even from coaches & motivational speakers.  NOW, straight from the cold, I came across a recent study breaking down the viability and merits of that age-old advice.  This time around, the study disproves all of those studies and instead, it dug a deep hole on the ground to stand pat WHY we should NOT get out of our COMFORT ZONES💥💥💥

YES, GETTING OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE sounds smart.  Unfortunately, everyone of them gets away with that supposedly very 'sage' advice even as it sounds authoritative and YET offering NOTHING of actual value, NOTHING in concrete terms.  BUT dice-and-drilling it, it sounds like a bad advice because often, it is communicated in a way that DOESN'T land for most people, and therefore, it just DOESN'T work.  In the most frank and categorical statement, allow me to restate things this way:  EVERYTHING YOU NEED IS WITHIN YOUR COMFORT ZONE BUT YOU'VE GOT TO STRETCH THINGS OUT✅✅✅

For alignment, let's agree on the COMFORT ZONE as that psychological 'SAFETY NET'.  LIKE we have a concept of our own self, that collection of ideas we hold about WHO we are and WHAT we do OR DON'T do.  LIKE a mental blueprint that influences our behaviors, preferences and even our perceived boundaries.  For brevity, that COMFORT ZONE is an extension of our self-concept helping us feel safe and very much in control.  YES, we know for a fact that this rowdy world we live in is quite crazy and unpredictable for us to be 'fluid' and leave our COMFORT ZONE often😌😌😌

Let's call a spade a spade.  WHEN we're told to 'LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONE', let's admit it, it sounds quite overwhelming and scary because it seems to clash with the identity we've built.  The change seems too drastic and may even be quite intimidating, reinforcing the more those imaginary boundaries of our COMFORT ZONE.  Experts tell us that on an intellectual level, it might NOT seem that way BUT on a deeper level, our nervous system, emotional, psychological and subconscious levels, leaving our COMFORT ZONE equates to stepping into the unknown😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  Even as I play devil's advocate now, let's face it, going against our system is like trying to stretch a rubber band wrapped around a tree.  YES, we can only go so far before it snaps us right back to WHERE we started.  WHAT happens next, motivation dwindles and we end up back to square one, feeling worse for NOT sustaining the planned change. This cycle reinforces NEGATIVE beliefs about our abilities, leaving us to feel failed and frustrated.  So, IS GETTING OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE a bad advice???

That 'Existential Anxiety'

 

NOT to throw unnecessary OR senseless jargons to you BUT I came across EXISTENTIAL ANXIETY out of curiosity.  Taking a reverse-engineering by starting off with the manifestations before defining it, common outcomes of EXISTENTIAL ANXIETY include panic, hopelessness and significant disruptions in life.  And moving backward, it is defined as that deep-seated dread arising from confronting the fundamental limitations of our existence like the lack of inherent meaning in life😡😡😡

Studies show that our worst mental habit is that unconscious mental loop, catching ourselves in those hundred tiny ways.  LIKE, am I winning?  LIKE, WHO else is better than me?  LIKE HOW is that person making it ahead of me?  THAT little metric we keep in our heads.  WHO's richer?  WHO's happier?  WHO's farther ahead?  Ouch, YES dude, that's a massive waste of life WHICH sadly our brain loves measuring!@#$%?  Psychologists researched on this and their common conclusion is that we tend to be manifesting these behaviors for our survival.  BUT ironically, this 'ancient wiring' makes us quite 'miserable'.  Ouch, comparing to that 'other person' must feel bitter, right???

Indeed, if we are hit with this kind of anxiety, it could be quite a distraction and worse a nightmare because I can envision our minds would never cease fixating everything else we are NOT doing right.  I CAN'T fathom myself to get compared [like boxing's TALE of the TAPE] to every Tom, Dick and Harry, whew!!!  And I can imagine as well, even if we are doing things right, that EXISTENTIAL ANXIETY can pull us out of everything that's going right, right?  BUT alas, all is NOT lost.  Experts tell us that WORST habit has been proven to be the EASIEST to break because of its mental construct.  Meaning, we DON'T even have to quit OR change our entire routine.  Instead, we simply need to change the channel the minute you feel that urge❎❎❎

Experts tell us that there are NO one-size-fits-all symptoms of EXISTENTIAL ANXIETY, e.g.:

• Feeling lonely
• Feeling guilty or shamed
• Feeling like life is pointless
• Isolating oneself from others
• Questioning one's beliefs or choices
• Experiencing frequent worry or panic
• Having difficulty making own decisions
• Withdrawing from daily/regular activities
• Feeling like life's always going to be difficult

Our takeaway:  Hearing from the experts, this is NO chronic OR critical stuff to be bothered as long as we can gather our gumption and shoot it down with one question instead of following that thought down that rabbit hole of resentment and insecurity.  To be less verbose and for brevity sake, WHAT the experts are advising us is that this seemingly worst mental habit could also be the easiest one to break BUT ONLY IF we want to break that brain loop that makes many people feel like they are stuck [WHEN all they have to do is go and get UNSTUCK.  That EXISTENTIAL ANXIETY!!!