A cure for Status Anxiety?

We’ve possibly all suffered from the pressure to succeed. Maybe it begins with the desire to please proud parents with the fruits of success at school. The badges of merit – academic, sporting or artistic – become essential goals. Failure, even with the most supportive parents, can be unbearable.

By adulthood Status Anxiety can become so ingrained that the pursuit of happiness is lost to the pursuit of achievement. Some are driven by parents who try to compensate for their own failings by driving their children to achieve what they could not. Sometimes we’re just wired that way – to compare ourselves unfavourably with our peers.

In reality no-one who really cares for you is that bothered about your life and achievements. Most well adjusted people couldn’t care less. Consider the picture below.

Icarus, who flew too close to the Sun. How insignificant Bruegel makes his fall. The soaring Icarus, suddenly fallen, makes barely a splash. The ship sails serenely on. The ploughman, head down, continues with his task. Back to the sea, the shepherd tends his flock. Icarus and his disaster pass unnoticed.

There’s a lesson there – but it took a couple of disasters of my own to learn it! Read about it HERE