The dizziness of freedom
Some anxiety is a sign that a real choice is open, not proof that something is wrong.
Key takeaways
- Kierkegaard noticed a kind of anxiety that comes from freedom itself: the vertigo of seeing that you could choose differently.
- That anxiety doesn't mean the choice is wrong. It often means the choice is real and that it matters to you.
- Check which kind you're feeling. If it's about danger, take it seriously. If it's about possibility, you can choose with it.
The edge of the cliff
In 1844, the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard published The Concept of Anxiety, under a pen name, as he often did. In it he describes someone standing at the edge of a cliff.
Part of the dizziness is fear of falling. But part of it is stranger: the sudden awareness that you could jump. Nothing is pushing you. The vertigo comes from the fact that it is up to you.
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”
Most of the time we read anxiety as an alarm: something is wrong, stop. Kierkegaard pointed to a second kind. It shows up when real possibilities open: a move, a breakup, a new career, saying what you actually think. It is what a real choice feels like from the inside.
Alarm or vertigo?
The two feel alike, so it's worth asking which one you have. An alarm points at a threat: a lump that needs checking, a partner who frightens you, a bill you can't pay. Vertigo points at a possibility: something you could do, and might want to.
A simple test: imagine the choice were taken away. If the anxiety turns to relief, it may be a warning worth hearing. If it turns to disappointment, it was probably the dizziness of freedom.
Question 1 of 2
Which kind of anxiety is each of these most likely to be?
- Feeling sick with nerves after being offered your dream job in another city.
- A knot in your stomach every time your landlord texts, because the rent is two months late.
- Lying awake after realizing you could actually leave the law degree your parents chose.
- Feeling uneasy walking to your car alone in an empty parking garage at night.
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Choosing with it
If it's vertigo, waiting for it to pass before you choose usually doesn't work. With real choices it rarely passes. What helps is turning the anxiety into information:
When a choice makes you dizzy
- Name the possibility
What exactly could you do? Say it plainly: "I could leave."
- Ask what it shows you care about
Anxiety tends to gather around what matters. What would you be reaching for?
- Notice what staying anxious avoids
Endless deliberating can be a way of not choosing. Not choosing is also a choice, with its own costs.
- Choose, and own it
Pick a direction, or a next step, and let the dizziness come along.
Jonah's offer
Jonah, 29, has been offered a place on a small team building boats in Maine. It pays less than his insurance job in Ohio, and he'd know no one there. Since the email arrived he's barely slept. He tells his sister: "The fact that I'm this anxious must mean it's a mistake. I'll decide once I feel calmer about it." The offer expires in two weeks.
Question 2 of 2
Sources and further reading
- Kierkegaard, S. (1844/1980). The Concept of Anxiety (R. Thomte, Trans.). Princeton University Press.
- May, R. (1950). The Meaning of Anxiety. Ronald Press.
Finish the lesson
0 of 2 questions done. Answer the rest to finish.