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xyzelementtoday at 1:16 PM0 repliesview on HN

Your post made me think about something that has circled my mind for a while.

I grew up with an anxious mother and looking back on it what "mattered" to her (admittedly I don't think she can help it at all) is the feeling of anxiety itself. In other words whatever is happening she'll feel anxious about that. The "event" would just be an excuse to feel the way she was anyway going to feel.

You would think that a break for anxiety - a moment of peace and calm - would be welcome - but it's almost a crime. I've noticed this with other anxious people as well that they often don't want to not feel anxious because that feeling is somehow problematic. I think I used to be like that too.

Why am I sharing this? I think your post is such an honest take on something. You feel good about something you should absolutely feel good about (nice weather) but the zeitgeist is that you should feel anxious about it.

This squares away with something I noticed - separately from the science and mitigation, some people are only able to speak about climate in tones of anxiety - worst case predictions will definitely come through, everyone else is criminally stupid and will cause us to die, etc - and they are allergic to any other time of speaking about the issue. So for example any suggestion that there might be a milder path or that the estimates are a range etc is not met with relief but with vitriol.

I apologize again for using your post as a prompt to put this in words - but what I read in your words is the pressure to feel anxious about something that you just aren't anxious about (hi from Vermont btw same great weather here) and I think this "pressure to feel anxious/guilty" is a byproduct of those who have grabbed on to climate as an "event" that justifies their own anxious feelings. Again that's separate from what's actually going on - I am commenting on anxiety not climate.