Related Recs

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Anti recc: being anxious in public

something is like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHwiggling around under my skin and all these people in this Panera with me CAN TELL help.

@imkhushi

Nov 4, 2024

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Gaslighting yourself

particularly when your anxiety induced insomnia is making you think about stupid hypotheticals- I love being like “im sorry you feel that way even though it’s absolutely ridiculous. Like I’m sure you BELIEVE that someone cares enough to get into the second floor, through multiple locked doors, past your dog that barks at the wind and anyone that so much as approaches the door, and kill you. I just think you might be on your period or something” and then I remember my brain is being a little dumb and actually it’s okay to recognize that anxiety is straight up goofy sometimes

@bidgii

May 18, 2024

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Finding comfort in a movie that matches your anxiety

I’m not sure how old I was when my family rented Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” but I never forgot certain images from it: crows gathering on the playground; seagulls blotting out the blue sky over a children’s birthday party; a farmer staring straight into the camera lens (straight at me) through bloody spaces where his eyes should have been. It was probably somewhere around the attack on the schoolchildren that I left the room, and I never returned to finish The Birds until this year, following a trip up to Bodega Bay, where the film is set (only about an hour or so from where I now live). Bodega Bay seems proud of its legacy as the backdrop of this enduring story of avian mayhem. And there was a certain charm to the place that made the idea of The Birds seem more whimsical than terrifying. So, I decided it was probably time to finish what I started all those years ago. Two things surprised me: The first was how a movie with such a ridiculous premise, one that is so easy to mock and seems ripe for parody, still delivers a palpable feeling of uncanny dread. And second, what a near perfect representation this film is of certain feelings I’ve had in the year since I arrived in northern California. I recently began having anxiety attacks for the first time in nearly fifteen years. My struggles with anxiety and depression were a more immediate presence in my life when I was young, but with time and support and insight, their looming presence has lessened. The circumstances and pressures that caused these forces to return with such immediacy into my life is not the point of this post. What I want to get at here is something that is known by many fans of horror films, but might seem strange to those who steer clear of them altogether, and ask questions like “why the hell would you decide to scare yourself when life is frightening enough already?” It’s a good question, and one that I think takes more than one person to adequately answer, but for my part - at this moment in my life when panic and fear seem closer at hand, and my ability to control them feels too often outmatched - it can be truly comforting to recognize my emotional and psychological experiences within a piece of art. As someone familiar with anxiety as both a steady presence and a sudden consuming one, I find it calming to watch those same sensations unfold on a screen in the elevated scenarios of genre fiction. I can turn to psychology and therapy and neuroscience to better understand these feelings, but horror, when done well (and hell even when done charmingly poorly), offers scale models of these experiences, safe and even entertaining ways to engage with them, and in so doing, lessen the threat they pose. There are many layers to the appeal of horror, but to see certain heightened feelings reflected back at you is certainly one of them. They can tell you, now and then and in indirect and fantastic and even silly terms, that you are not the only one who feels this way. More in my substack “Angle On”

@withnickotte

Oct 25, 2024

Top Recs from @emma-seligman

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Charli XCX

I’ve yet to find a Charli song that I can’t dance or tear up to. Whether it’s sexy or emotional or adrenaline-filled, her music just hits people, especially the queers, on another level.

@emma-seligman

Aug 30, 2023

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Museum of the City of NY

I’ve been going to this museum ever since I moved to New York. It’s a perfect hidden gem for any history nerds who want a slightly less crowded museum experience on the upper east side. The permanent collection is thorough but not overwhelming and you can get through it in a few hours (I personally hate being in huge museums where I get stressed by the amount of rooms/options). And despite being a history museum, it offers a modern and interactive experience and isn’t dusty!!

@emma-seligman

Aug 30, 2023

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Calling my Mum

Ever since leaving my hometown, whenever I am feeling unreasonably stressed and tired and don’t have the energy and focus to journal, I call my Mum like a child. I’m very grateful that she’s the kind of person who can listen to me cry and contradict myself multiple times within the same conversation but still talks to me like I’m making sense and like my feelings are valid. Generally, she just tells me that I need sleep.

@emma-seligman

Aug 30, 2023