The Hyggelig Journey

The antidote to anxiety is action. When faced with uncertainty, the mind tends to spiral, analysing every possible outcome, yet struggling to commit to a decision. This constant back-and-forth is not just mentally exhausting — it is paralysing. Indecision keeps you rooted in place, amplifying doubts and feeding a growing sense of unease. Anxiety often arises not from the decisions themselves, but from the fear of making the wrong choice. The longer you hesitate, the more overwhelming the situation feels. Over time, this hesitation solidifies into avoidance, reinforcing the belief that uncertainty is something to be feared. It is easy to convince yourself that the choice in front of you is so critical that everything else must be put on hold. You tell yourself that if you analyse it just a little longer, clarity will come. But clarity rarely appears in stillness. More often than not, movement — any movement — is what breaks the cycle of overthinking. Taking even the smalle...

As a writer, one thing that has always caught my attention is the remarkable adaptability of the Brazilian Portuguese language. It is highly versatile — elastic to the point of facilitating the expression of complex thoughts and emotions in both speech and writing. But there is one word that many people tend to avoid, either because they feel it is too strong or because they want to suggest that what they feel is not quite so intense. Time and again, I have seen patients arrive fuming with anger over their daily struggles, yet when confronted, they deny feeling angry. They describe it as something else — indignation, frustration, irritation, annoyance, resentment — when, in reality, they are simply angry. This is partly due to the process of rationalisation, where we seek explanations to make sense of our thoughts and emotions. However, anger is anger. It is not healthy to ignore an emotion that exists precisely to drive adjustments in our daily lives, pushing us to tac...