Tag: Jordan B Peterson

Anxiety

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I’ve been meaning to be more open about my anxiety for a long time, but to date I’ve only told a single colleague, so here goes… I don’t find it difficult to talk about once I get started, but I find there’s an initial hurdle to exposing that vulnerability – mainly because it’s something that makes no sense and can occur at any time without any discernable cause, even when the conscious part of my mind knows that there’s no reason to feel nervous.

Any situation can do it – perhaps the big meeting is more likely to trigger anxiety, but it can just as easily pop up if I’m on the train or at the cinema. I usually notice a detail that could make somebody uneasy (meeting nerves, a crowded carriage, or a gory scene) and worry about fainting or throwing up. Worrying about that puts me further on edge, and the thing becomes a vicious cycle that can leave me shaking or excusing myself. Luckily, I’m yet to pass out or vomit as a result, which is a detail I cling to during these episodes.

It’s hard to focus on anything outside of yourself when anxiety hits.

I recently wrote about 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B Peterson – a book that really helped me put this in perspective. Not only did the author’s theory of chaos and order push me to come to terms with my inability to control every situation, but Peterson’s explanation of anxiety helped me to identify that it was this spiralling pattern of thoughts that caused most of the issues. Both of these insights have become invaluable mechanisms to help me to stop potential anxiety attacks almost before they have even started – and they’ve left me determined not to back off and avoid situations that can trigger my anxiety.

Life isn’t perfect and anxiety still affects me from time to time, but I’m very thankful to Peterson for his inspiring words. This has made it all the sadder to hear that he checked himself into rehab this week after struggling to come off addictive anti-anxiety medication he was prescribed following his wife’s terminal cancer diagnosis. I wish him all the best in his recovery, and hope anybody else grappling with anxiety can find as much support as I did in his book, which may just have altered the course of my life for the better.

12 Rules for Life

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One of my colleagues who read 12 Rules for Life said it was “basically 300 pages of common sense”. Some of my friends refused to touch the book because of the reputation of its author, Jordan B Peterson. So how did this philosophical self-help guide sell millions of copies around the world? Being inquisitive, I decided to reserve judgement until I’d read it myself, and given everything I’d heard prior about 12 Rules, I was pleasantly surprised by the time I reached the end (very quickly, too, it must be said).

If you just read the titles of the chapters (each is one of the titular rules), you’d either be very confused or think my colleague was right. But behind statements like “be precise in your speech” and “tell the truth – or at least don’t lie” are essays exploring the Bible, philosophy, and Peterson’s own experiences as a psychologist and a human. I won’t be following the rules like commandments, but as I read the book I could feel it unravelling long-held thoughts and convictions and helping me make sense of my own behaviours.

There are no free photos of living lobsters. These guys obviously didn’t stand up straight with their shoulders back!

The lessons of 12 Rules are all grounded in near universally-held logic and beliefs: get your own estate in order before criticising others, act confident to become confident, take time to enjoy life’s small pleasures, focus on self-improvement rather than envying others’ achievements, and so on. The difference is that Peterson is able to hold a psychological lens to these mantras, explaining why certain behaviours are intrinsic to our species and how to become more concscious of and alter your own to positive effect.

While I don’t believe the book has anything but good intentions, I can see how some short passages could conflict with some people’s political and ethical beliefs (including my own in some cases). But I would urge anyone putting off reading 12 Rules for this reason to push past it. After all, we have the cognitive function to criticise the things we hear, and you don’t have to agree or disagree with 100 percent of what an author says. Peterson’s political arguments won’t sway non-believers, but I dare say it would be a hard task to read this book and find nothing of personal value in his psychological musings.