The problem is, when we get too attached to one particular story—a story about who we are… and what kind of world we’re living in… what kind of people are around us… we lose perspective. Our perception gets narrow. In short, we suffer, and we cause suffering to those around us. 

Sometimes I panic about our ecological situation. I’ve gotten better at coping, but still. Sometimes a rogue fact will fly across my field of vision—some well-meaning statistic or off-hand comment—and bang, there it is. “That funny feeling,” as Bo Burnham calls it. The dropping sensation. The O God. It’s going to end. How did I forget? It’s like the anxiety waits until my guard is down and then, when I least expect it, it pounces.