Today we’re going to talk about the anxiety you feel when you have a lot to choose from but know that you can only choose one. I know this might sound like a lot to process, but Kierkegaard has interesting thoughts on it all in a single paragraph on page 154. The first sentence reads “whoever is educated by anxiety is educated by possibility, and only [they] who [are] educated by possibility is educated according to [their] infinitude.” Although anxiety is a negative feeling, Kierkegaard acknowledges its educative value. When we have anxiety, we learn about the nature of what Kierkegaard calls possibility. Possibility is the “possibility of being able” to do something (p. 141). In turn, from possibility we learn about our infinitude, or our ability to choose one thing out of many. So in sum, our anxiety when we have to decide what to do after high school, or after college, or after grad school, gives us experience in what it is like to deal with those situations. Kierkegaard notes that “whoever has truly been brought up by possibility has grasped the terrible as well as the joyful” and they learn they “can demand absolutely nothing of life and [the] terrible, perdition, and annihilation live next door to [everyone].” From dealing with anxiety, we learn that no matter what, good things and bad things will happen to us. Furthermore—and this is the key point—dealing with anxiety teaches us just how relieving and better the outcome is than the decision. Kierkegaard calls the outcome “actuality”. He writes that after we learn from anxiety, we “will praise actuality;” and even though it seemed like actuality was the terrible, terrible thought going through our minds when dealing with possibility, we will understand that possibility is actually the horrible thought since actuality is relatively peaceful no matter what it is. Remember, anxiety is of the unknown. It’s far scarier than feeling something bad about something you know about. So, that’s Kierkegaard’s life lesson: don’t get stuck with anxiety—do something and you’ll realize that no matter the outcome, the worse part of that ordeal has come to pass.
