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Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness

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Re: Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness

#131

Post by lcall »

dccoolgai wrote: post #94

Historically, this is the role religion played. I'm not saying "go to church" (or mosque or temple or whatever it is you want to go to)... But sometimes we get a little smug looking at the past. There's thousands of years of culture built up you can avail yourself of.

I learned for myself that God is real, and it matters for our daily lives. It helps to know that this life (what we see) is not the end, nor the beginning. Honesty and the Golden Rule (treating others the way oneself would want to be treated, with wisdom) go a long way. For greater satisfaction, a focus on learning to serve others makes a huge difference (see, for example, http://justserve.org for volunteer opportunities in your locale, if available there). Knowing what you need to know, and having purpose in life makes all the difference at being able to balance things. Incredibly helpful to me on a daily basis -- peace, hope, and all the good feelings, ongoing, even amid very hard (growing & learning, I believe) experiences. More at my web site, in profile, and questions welcome. (Nothing for sale.)

ps: the things you say, caring about your family, learning skills and supporting self and/or others with honest labor, sound noble and good, and you can pat yourself on the back for it. Finding balance and peace can simply add to that. I.e., keep all the good that you have and see what can be added to it.

Re: Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness

#132

Post by mdp2021 »

2000UltraDeluxe wrote: post #21

Life is inherently dangerous; nobody survives it. In the chaos that exists around us we need to take the chances we can to enjoy life while we can. Nobody says we can't do something useful with our time, but spending one's sparetime working won't help. I've heard the phrase "chop wood, carry water" here on HN a few times. It's not a bad concept and if you have the option then I'd suggest trying. It's far more rewardi…

> It's not a bad concept

What an extreme understatement! (Graham Chapman: "It's a good idea, O Lord!") ...It is part of a tradition.

Anyway, you seem to be using that idea on an odd interpretation. Have you taken it to be, "live simply"?

That would be part of the recipe, but the actor should first (or parallely) learn to approach matters accordingly. And this is where the submitter shows difficulties.

This is why I strongly subscribe to said «spending one's sparetime working [for further money] won't help».

Re: Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness

#133

Post by mdp2021 »

You are stating you are living an unbalanced life. There are two issues:

-- you have to also take care of your health. It will be a costly and absurd mistake to neglect it, and consequently end up right in the situation you seem to be trying to avoid, of hindering your income. If you plan carefully, you also plan to preserve your abilities - which means, treating your health with the highest care - and ALL of it, not just bits, not picking between body and nerves, nutrition and rest. Manage yourself optimally, do not leave holes;

-- allocate time to assess your concerns properly. You cannot get out of a bad (apparently, cognitively passive) approach towards the frankly dire situation humanity is in, if you "feel" it instead of "considering" it lucidly: if something is a concern to you, examine it. Reasonably, you cannot swamp yourself in the fear of so general ideas: study your enemy properly, if you want to be prepared.

Re: Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness

#134

Post by FooBarBizBazz »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #107
morelandjs wrote: post #83

I don’t believe this kind of statement in general. It’s a whitewashed way to say “I’ve tied up my self worth in money. I like keeping score and reminding myself of where I stand relative to other people “. In short, it’s ego. But no one wants to say that so they make up stuff about “providing for their family”.

With a decreasing birth rate and labor participation rate, is it not reasonable to predict competition for labor to be higher in future years? And competition for resources in general, such as fuel, water, food, and desirable land to be higher in future years?

Wouldn't competition for those things be lower, if there are fewer people?

Re: Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness

#135

Post by shafyy »

crypt1d wrote: post #122
shafyy wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you live in Switzerland (or I guess also outside, but not sure if your insurance will cover it then), you can give Aepsy ( https://aepsy.com/ ) a try (disclaimer: The founder is a good friend of mine, but it's a great service)

I'd be happy to pay for it out of pocket, but it seems like aepsy is German only? I'm afraid that wont work for me, but perhaps someone else here finds it valuable. thank you

While the website is in German, you can select that you want a an English speaking therapist once you start the process ("Jetzt Psychologin finden").

Re: Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness

#136

Post by lotsofpulp »

FooBarBizBazz wrote: post #134
lotsofpulp wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a decreasing birth rate and labor participation rate, is it not reasonable to predict competition for labor to be higher in future years? And competition for resources in general, such as fuel, water, food, and desirable land to be higher in future years?

Wouldn't competition for those things be lower, if there are fewer people?

After the population pyramid stabilizes and ratio of workers to non workers goes up again (labor participation rate).

But while the labor participation rate declines, the non workers still have demand for labor/resources. This would push prices up, when compared to times that labor participation rate is higher.

Re: Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness

#137

Post by freedom2099 »

AndrewVos wrote: post #39
pmorici wrote: post #16

Be glad you are alive now and not 100 years ago before they invented modern medicine. Back then they had real problems and yet civilization did not end.

I know you might mean well, but this isn't a nice response to someone asking for help. You're effectively saying "you don't have any problems". It's an abusive tactic in relationships.

No, it’s not saying that he hasn’t problems… it’s putting this problem in the right perspective! Instead of seeing how bad the world is let’s focus on how much it did improve!

Re: Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness

#138

Post by systemvoltage »

Comevius wrote: post #129
systemvoltage wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recommend watching this Google Talk. The way information bubbles up from experts right down to media through several layers of summarization and omission of facts is dubious and lacks critical oversight. https://youtu.be/s6b7K1hjZk4 Your enthusiasm and blind trust is exactly what we don’t want in scientific inquiry. We want more skeptics when becoming a skeptic is considered politically motivated or otherwise. Scienc…

I'm not an expert in climate change, but I read a lot of science paper (mostly cryptography and behavior science) and I understand how science works. I understand it's process, it's limitations. I also see the writing on the wall. I don't like it, I'm not enthusiastic about it, I don't place blind trust in it. It's there, whether I like it or not. There are a lot of uncertainties about the details, but the big pictur…

I agree with you about the first paragraph. Do you think we need more Climate skeptics especially when there is a severe lack of them, and when there is an excessive dogmatism – i.e., you cannot challenge the status quo with the best of intentions and using the same materials/sources, there is a cultural pressure to conform and there is a dire need for strong arming climate catastrophy and apocolyptic motifs?

I hope we can find common ground that when there is 100% dogmatism and 0% skepticism, it is not science anymore. It is like the medieval church.

I take this further in my personal life without engaging in conspiracies and bad faith. Whenever there is an immense social pressure to conform to anything, let alone science, I get increasingly skeptic. There is a wisdom of crowds when a healthy amount skepticism is allowed. There is a madness of crowds when very little skepticism is allowed.

Re: Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness

#139

Post by FooBarBizBazz »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #136
FooBarBizBazz wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't competition for those things be lower, if there are fewer people?

After the population pyramid stabilizes and ratio of workers to non workers goes up again (labor participation rate). But while the labor participation rate declines, the non workers still have demand for labor/resources. This would push prices up, when compared to times that labor participation rate is higher.

I guess this will push up the prices of labor-intensive things, and might reduce the prices of commodities that are capital- but not labor- intensive to extract. So robotically-mined open-pit coal will be cheap, and so will Midwestern wheat, and probably even vacation properties in scarce mountain or beach locations (making allowances for global warming). But if you want a barista to make your latte, that'll set you back $40, and if you want somebody to put a new roof on your house, God help you.
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