This is a letter to my past self + anyone who might be dealing with “anxiety” For most of last year I carried this low grade hum of stress I couldn’t name. It wasn’t sadness, nor was it burnout. On paper nothing was wrong, but I’d wake up at 3 a.m. with my mind racing, sit down to work and feel paralyzed by all the directions I could go, and finish a productive day still feeling like nothing I did mattered. I labeled myself as “type A”, that I always have to be doing something. I labeled myself as “anxious” I tried meditation apps, long walks, gratitude journals. They helped at the surface. But underneath the surface, the hum remained. It was this pull on my chest, that wasn’t allowing me to ever feel fulfilled, I always needed to be somewhere. Then I came across this quote from a podcast that changed my perspective: “General ambition creates anxiety. Specific ambition creates direction.” And I could suddenly see it. My business goal was “grow the business.” My health goal was “get in better shape.” My personal goal was “be happier.” Each one offered a dozen possible paths and zero way to choose between them. No wonder I was spinning. I’d given myself infinite options and no map to follow. So I forced myself to get painfully specific. “Grow the business” became sign four UGC clients at $2,500 per month by March using Instagram outreach to SaaS brands. “Get in shape” became go to the gym three times per week and follow the same three meals per day. “Be happier” became dinner with a friend twice a month, phone out of the bedroom, 10 minutes of journaling + meditation every morning. The moment I wrote those down my shoulders dropped. I wasn’t so “stiff”, always anxious and looking for the next move, but I was actually living in the present moment And here’s the part that I can only look back after taking months off reflecting on what had actually happened: I’d been keeping my goals vague on purpose. And I was keeping it vague on an unconscious level to protect myself.