The nameless dread
It is natural for change to cause anxiety.
Walking the unknown road of change there is a growing nameless dread of what may exist around the corner.
The rate of changes I have been making in my life and business has the unexpected challenge of creating a considerable amount of personal anxiety. There is a dark formless dread hanging in the background of my mind, like a shadowy monster ready to devour me.
My commitment to one small daily sustainable action is contributing to a domino effect of change, both due to its effects, but also due to the amount of change I have to make to bring about one change. Small it may be these changes, but there is research to be done, telephone calls to make, obstacles to overcome, false starts and sacrifices. Not only am I making the sort of changes I blog about each day, but I am also thinking, reviewing and working towards other changes each day to keep my momentum going.
The ideal of one small sustainable action each day is good, but the actual manifestation of these changes is the challenge. The human mind likes the security of the known, the secure and the routine. Now I am in a chaotic period of multiple changes into the unknown. Due to this change, insecurity and uncertainty a fog of anxiety has grown up. My “get off the fence” approach is cutting through obstacles, external and internal, but that feeds rather than diminishes the anxiety. However, I am reaping good beneficial results from my changes.
Fortunately there are mind techniques for dealing with this nameless dread. The human subconscious has no sense of reality, so creative visualisation can pay huge dividends. I remember that for a long time my fear of heights was so bad that I had trouble going up even a flight of stairs on the outside of buildings; I visualised a big hand protecting me ready to catch me if I fell; I thus overcame my fear sufficiently to climb such stairs without being reduced to a jelly. A similar approach I shall use against the nameless dread, the form of the visualisation remains to be decided.
Sustainability action 6 : use Ecosia search engine.
We can support the environment by using our power as voters, consumers and supporters to deal with those people, groups, organisations, products and services that contribute to a sustainable planet. Amongst the many search engines is Ecosia, whose unique selling point is that it will contribute 80% of income to save the Amazon rainforest. The income comes from users clicking the advertisements on Ecosia, or buying products from advertisers displaying an “EcoLink” sign.
Ecosia is not as efficient in search results as Google, so is a bad tool to use for research projects, but for general searches for regular sites like “WordPress” or “Twitter” it is good to use. Nobody is perfect, criticism is levelled at Ecosia for the contributions of income it pays to Bing and Yahoo for access to their search tools; they are criticised for their dependency upon third-party search servers which undermines their claims of a neutral or negative carbon footprint per search. To date Ecosia has contributed £913,612 to the Amazon rainforest, which at least makes them a search engine worth supporting as users.
My sustainability action today is to use Ecosia for general searches instead of Google from now on.
- Posted in: Internet ♦ Nature ♦ Sustainablity
- Tagged: anxiety, change, ecosia, nameless dread, rainforest, search engine, sustainability, visualisation
I’ve installed Ecosia
Awesome
You seem ot be making a good point about the effect of changes on us. If they are part of our choice, or if we see benefits in them, the stress they cause can be borne. But if hey are imposed from outside, and for no reason or to no benefit, the effect can be devastating. Thanks for the tip on Ecosia. will look into it. cheers
Well observed, so true.
Habitual comfort can be an enemy, and anxiety a sign on being on the edge, in transition. A sign of change, and not always a bad thing.
You are right, through the process of change is challenging, especially if like me people throw themselves in the deep end.
I’ve made Ecosia the search of choice on my back up browser.Thanks for getting the word out about this search engine.
You are welcome, great decision
A change such as using Ecosia is relatively easy to become accustomed to. However, making a change a day is too much, in my view. Some changes take time to play out. An example is making changes to our diets. Perhaps we want to gather some of our food (I do) or stop eating something that we know is grown in a way that’s toxic.
Don’t worry, you’ll get over the immediate dreads very quickly. Rest assured, there’s more dread ahead.
You are right, making a change a day is harsh. Tough year of change I think for me with plenty of dread to go with it.
As one person I may not be able to change the world, but I can make changes in my own life that effect others. This can cause people to look inword and make their own changes and thus the seeds are planted for a revolution one person at a time
That is how I see it works, we change the world by making changes in ourselves, thus ripples of change go out from us to influence those around us by our example.
The law of attraction also states that like attracts like. When one person starts something others who are like minded will be drawn to that person. I know this is true I have a wonderful friend in my life because of this.
I have had personal experiences of this law too.
Looking forward to learning about your changes and the reasons behind them.
LVX
As for ecosia….. http://reviewandjudge.org/Reviews_4.0/www.ecosia.org.html
Thanks for the link to the reviews of Ecosia. I treat internet reviews with caution, as rivals, those with an axe to grind or insiders tend to manipulate such reviews with false or biased information. Any efforts by anyone to work towards a sustainable planet should be supported. I am hardly surprised at Google hostility towards Ecosia, as Ecosia is a rival using rival resources (Bing, Yahoo..). If Ecosia was a scam as some of the hostile reviewers suggest, the media, the extensive “Green” internet movement and WWF would have mentioned it.
I will write about this over the coming weeks.
Good write-up. I definitely love this site. Keep writing!
Thanks.