I finally finished one of this semester's assignments, and I celebrated by having a nap and reorganizing the hot press (airing cupboard, to non- paddies).
My gangsta vibes are lit.
It's a lovely feeling to downgrade my fancy performance anxiety to everyday existential dread.
Fear is not the most popular kid at the emotional party, but we probably wouldn't be here without it. Our inner alarm system has saved us from being devoured, starved or trampled out of existence a long time ago.
But we can have too much of a good thing.
We live in a time and place when fear is used as a marketing tool. Unscrupulous people with shit to sell cleverly tap into our western values, our innate insecurities (often of not being lovable or good enough) and access to 24/7 information assault.
Sex sells, but fear sells better.
We're relentlessly scared of everything, and it's literally driving us insane.
Aging. Bad breath. Missing out. Being uncool. Drinking the wrong beer. Malnourishing our kids. Cancer. Body hair. Having normal teeth. Loss. Not being rich/thin/clean/ripped/popular/successful/young/sexy/stylish/accomplished/nourished/travelled/fragrant/healthy enough. Last season's shoes. Boredom.
We're strung-out consumers blindly buying the next antidote to fear, forgetting that fear is just another normal emotion.
Unless you're Finian.
One of his many superpowers is deflecting marketing strategies. He'd probably eat this season's must-have shoes. Yum. The only things that scare him are his Bob toys being misaligned, and loss of WiFi.
Sometimes Autism rocks.
It's taken me almost a year in therapy to know how to process emotions and understand why they call it "work". Finian is miles ahead of me. He's almost casual in his genius at knowing what is worth fearing, and what deserves no attention.
I'm still terrified by my laundry monster (it definitely growls at me some days), and some of my college tutors are kinda scary. But I'm learning from my favourite teacher.
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