Morning!
🧿 Dear readers of Bir17, you are no longer alone while sipping your morning coffee. As Bir17, we’ll be writing short and insightful pieces for you every morning. Just for you and only you… 🫵🏻
Since it’s summer, here are some tips on how to pick the perfect watermelon. 🍉 Just kidding! But honestly, it would have been a great piece—if you ever think, “Why would Bir17 deprive us of such quality content?” let us know. 🥲
Let’s talk a little about the recently popular animated movie Inside Out 2. It’s now in its third week in theaters. Although it’s a Pixar animation, it’s far from being just a children’s movie. This film puts our emotions in the spotlight. It takes place inside the mind of 11-year-old Riley, where five core emotions reside: Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness. After moving to San Francisco with her family and starting a new school, this major life change impacts her emotions and behavior. While Joy was the main character in the first film, Anxiety takes center stage in the second. This is because Riley is entering adolescence, and now, instead of being guided by joy, anxiety starts leading the way. As Anxiety takes over, 13-year-old Riley struggles. However, by the end of the film, the emotions learn to balance both positive and negative experiences, helping Riley develop a more complex and resilient sense of self.
Anxiety, that tricky emotion, can actually be divided into two types: functional anxiety and dysfunctional anxiety. Functional anxiety enhances performance, motivates individuals, and helps them prepare for potential dangers. It allows people to be more careful and cautious in certain situations. For instance, feeling anxious before a big shoot can push someone to think more critically and perform better. Up to a certain degree, functional anxiety is healthy, but too much of it can be exhausting and distressing.
Dysfunctional anxiety, on the other hand, negatively impacts daily life, disrupts normal functioning, and is experienced at an excessive, uncontrollable level. This type of anxiety can diminish social relationships, work performance, and overall quality of life. For example, someone with social anxiety disorder may feel extreme nervousness in social settings, leading them to withdraw or appear overly reserved. The good news? Reducing anxiety isn’t as hard as it seems. Deep breathing exercises, whether at work, in social situations, or even in traffic, can be incredibly effective in calming anxiety. The next time you start to feel anxious, take a deep breath in… and out. Focus on your breath. There, it’s already better. Just like drinking water or eating, if you make focusing on your breath a daily habit, anxiety won’t stand a chance against you.
Inside Out 2 highlights both the positive and negative aspects of anxiety, offering viewers an opportunity to understand this complex emotion and learn ways to manage it. Remember, when we skip giving ourselves the time we need, we end up doing long-term harm to our well-being.
Dear reader, emotions don’t get to decide who you are. They simply help us make sense of our experiences and process them.
So, whatever emotion you may be feeling, let it flow. And when you’ve felt it enough, instead of carrying it with you on your journey, simply let it go.
Wishing you all a wonderful day,
Bir17 Team 🧿