Issue 76 - Duality

Welcome to Issue 76 of Deep Life Reflections, where I share five things I’ve been enjoying and thinking about over the past week.

This week, we explore the dual nature of anxiety in our lives. We begin with an article by clinical psychologist Richard A. Friedman, who argues that the right kind of anxiety can be as beneficial as exercise. Then, we journey back to World War II’s Pacific theatre in the brutal and harrowing HBO mini-series The Pacific. We reflect on how anxiety can be both a burden and a catalyst for growth, and, as always, finish with a reflective question for you.

Join me as we explore this week’s Friday Five.

1. What I’m Reading

Anxiety is Like Exercise (Article). By Richard A. Friedman.

How did you feel in the minutes before your last big presentation, salary negotiation, or when awaiting important medical results? The tension, racing thoughts, and heightened alertness—all are universal signs of anxiety, but not all anxiety is harmful. In fact, small doses of stress can actually protect your health. Richard A. Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry, explores this concept in an article for The Atlantic, arguing that the right kind of anxiety can be as beneficial as exercise.

The article challenges much of the advice from the past decade, where anxiety of any kind has been viewed as detrimental to health. Friedman instead sees two types of anxiety; one harmful, the other beneficial. He distinguishes between “growth anxiety”—which arises from challenges that are uncomfortable but manageable, like giving a public talk—and “toxic anxiety,” which stems from overwhelming situations, such as being constantly swamped by work demands. As Friedman puts it, “It’s the difference between finding a leak in your basement and losing your house in a hurricane.”

When we get anxious, it triggers a brief surge of cortisol and norepinephrine, releasing glucose for energy and preparing the body for a fight-or-flight response, making you laser-focused. This type of growth anxiety, a normal response to challenges, can strengthen neural connections in the hippocampus, boosting memory and learning. However, chronic anxiety, with prolonged elevation of these two stress hormones, can lead to serious health issues like diabetes and cognitive decline, as it impairs neuron growth and shrinks the hippocampus. While toxic anxiety is damaging, growth anxiety, like physical exercise, can enhance resilience and health when kept within healthy limits.

Friedman believes we are all capable of transforming toxic anxiety into growth anxiety, using it as a catalyst for personal growth. By taking immediate actions and developing long-term strategies, we can regain a sense of control and balance, overcoming the feeling of being overwhelmed. And he emphasises that we shouldn’t fear growth anxiety any more than we do the soreness after a good workout.

“Both can be uncomfortable but make us stronger in the long run.”

Read the full article in The Atlantic here.

2. What I’m Watching

The Pacific (2010). HBO Mini-Series.

Few war dramas capture the brutality and psychological toll of combat like The Pacific, a ten-part HBO mini-series that follows the harrowing experiences of U.S. Marines during World War II. Thrust into the savage campaign against Japan in the South Pacific, these Marines go through some of the most ferocious battles I’ve seen on screen. Backed by a $200 million production budget and the vision of executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the series won 8 Emmy Awards.

The narrative arc focuses on the individual stories of three young men: Privates Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge, and Sergeant John Basilone—who becomes a national hero after his heroism at Guadalcanal. Through their eyes, we not only witness the brutal realities of war but also the lasting psychological scars it leaves behind. Leckie and Sledge both wrote memoirs after the war, and I’m currently reading Sledge’s, “With the New Breed.” Through their stories, we too are dropped into some of the most infamous and ferocious battles, including Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. All are terrible, both in the severity of battle and the cost of lives on both sides.

The war in the Pacific is perhaps not as well-known today compared to the European conflict against Nazi Germany, which has historically received more attention in film and books. However, through the efforts of Spielberg, Hanks, and a talented cast and crew, The Pacific sheds light on this equally brutal theater of war, which ended with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both wars were of course horrendous and full of death, but the Pacific campaign, unlike Europe, exposed U.S. Marines to some of the most appalling conditions possible—mud, heat, malaria, near starvation, isolation, and an enemy that refused to surrender.

Huge sacrifices were made, and it’s striking to realise how young these men were, many barely in their 20s. We see how invincible and impervious to death they feel before going into battle for the first time, and then the awful realisation—for the ones still standing—that each sunset might be their last. Day after day after day. The relentless exposure to death and destruction takes a monumental impact on them, both physically and mentally.

The Pacific is a masterful piece of storytelling, capturing the chaos of war as it unfolds around the characters we’ve invested in. And in the white heat of the battle, we, the viewer, are right there with them. As critic Emily St. James wrote:

“It’s a series about the cost of war on men’s minds, yes, but it’s also a series about what it takes to remain basically good…how when the normal rules you’re expecting don’t apply, just about anyone is capable of some pretty horrendous things. And it’s a series about just how hard it is to cling to your own humanity in the face of plenty of things that seem to prove that humanity simply isn’t worth clinging to.”

3. What I’m Contemplating

In the two works featured this week, we see the physiological and psychological experiences of anxiety across different contexts, from everyday life (as discussed in Richard Friedman’s article) to the extreme conditions of war, as depicted in The Pacific.

The spectrum of anxiety is huge, from growth-inducing challenges to debilitating and traumatic stress. In watching The Pacific, and reading some of the memoirs of those that survived, it seems incredible that some eventually managed to return to a relatively normal life. At the end of the series we learn that many of the characters went on to live normal lives—car salesman, husband, journalist, father—and the world moved quickly on, too.

These men somehow adapted and survived under immense pressure, highlighting anxiety’s dual nature as both a burden and a potential catalyst for growth.

4. A Quote to note

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

- William James

5. A Question for you

What steps can you take today to turn a current stressor into a catalyst for growth?

Thanks for reading and being part of the Deep Life Journey community. If you have any reflections on this issue, please leave a comment. Have a great weekend.

James

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