Action > rumination
jasonleow • 23 Mar 2026 •
Anxiety is the result of self-obsession. Therefore, the cure isn’t more self-focus; it’s finding something bigger than yourself to focus on. In other words, you’ll cease being anxious only once you’ve found something worth being anxious for. – @Markmanson
Rumination causes anxiety. Period.
The more you think and talk about your problems, they bigger they get.
The flip side: The more you (physically) act on your problems, the smaller they get.
Then what about writing? I think it’s 50:50. Half the time, writing about my problems is rumination. Counter-productive. I bitch and vent and nothing changes. For years. Sometimes it helps because it brings clarity, makes me brainstorm a little about solutions, which in turn helps me to act.
So it’s a wild card. It’s a tool. It’s all from how you use it.
So is the mind. Thinking and talking are tools too.
So yeah, that’s what I’m gonna try to do hereon.
Fine: Think, talk, write, but only if it brings clarity, gives ideas on solutions, and nudges me to act.
Anything else, shut tf up.
No more rumination.
Only action.
Thinking and talking to myself always ends up in rumination. It’s just rehearsing the problem. Writing is slower and once something is written down you can look at it from the outside. I think that helps it sometimes escape the rumination trap.