Chaos-Proof: Using Ancient Wisdom to Hack Modern Anxiety

Commentary

My wife and I recently watched the documentary “John Candy: I Like Me,” which explores the remarkable life of Canadian comic John Candy.

The film, directed by Colin Hanks and produced by Ryan Reynolds, offers a touching portrait of an iconic actor and comedian who became an international star in the 1980s after launching his career in Toronto on “The Second City,” Canada’s version of “Saturday Night Live.”

Candy was beloved. He was not just funny and talented; he was warm and authentic. Fans loved him, and so did his fellow actors. I knew all of this before watching Hanks’s documentary. What I didn’t know was that despite his success, Candy suffered from hyperanxiety and severe panic attacks.

“We talked a lot about his psychological health and the pressures that he had,” Candy’s friend Kelvin Pruenster said.

“[He] was trying to learn what caused that in his life.”

It might surprise some people that someone as wealthy and successful as Candy suffered from anxiety and depression. It shouldn’t.

Health surveys show that more than 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders—a broad category covering panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety—and that nearly one-third will experience one in their lifetime.

For younger people, the condition is particularly acute and getting worse. A 2024 study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry found that between 1990 and 2021, new cases of anxiety disorders among people aged 10 to 24 rose by more than 50 percent worldwide. Research from the Harvard Graduate School of Education found similar results.

“Far too many young adults told us that they feel on edge, lonely, directionless, and that they worry about financial security,” the report’s lead author, Richard Weissbourd, said.

“Many are ‘achieving to achieve’ and find little meaning in either school or work.”

Many readers may recognize these feelings. Anxiety is part of the human condition and not entirely bad. It can serve as a warning: our body’s way of telling us to pay attention, prepare, or avoid real danger. But when anxiety becomes constant or overwhelming, the condition can become debilitating.

Fortunately, there are ways that people can manage their emotions instead of allowing their emotions to manage them.

Few understood this better than the ancient Stoics, who developed a practical philosophy aimed at cultivating inner stability and emotional discipline in an uncertain world that is often harsh.

Control What You Can, Release the Rest

Every fall, I coach youth football. One of the messages I give is simple: Focus on what you can control. I remind players that they can’t control the outcomes of games but that they can control how hard they work, how prepared they are, how they treat their teammates, and how they respond when things don’t go their way.

None of this is terribly unique. You’ll hear a lot of NFL and college coaches preaching similar messages. But these lessons go beyond football.

Worrying about things outside of your control is a recipe for disharmony, which is precisely why the ancient Stoics cautioned against it.

In “The Enchiridion,” Epictetus wrote, “Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”

This advice sounds simple, but it’s not. The human brain wants to fret about things outside of our control, especially when we are bored or idle. Controlling one’s thoughts takes discipline, but it can be achieved. If you can master the habit, it’s a first step to a less anxious life.

Hack: Operate a simple daily “control filter.” Write down what’s stressing you out, then draw a hard line between what you can influence today and what you cannot. Act on the first list. Delete the second.

Find Stillness and Eliminate ‘Hurry’

Although boredom can trigger anxiety, being constantly busy can have the same effect. Work and exercise are good, but rest, peace, and quiet are also essential ingredients to healthy living.

Ancient Christian thinkers, as well as many in the Eastern and Greco-Roman traditions, understood this. They viewed silence and solitude as essential to clarity.

Indeed, Christian philosopher Dallas Willard said the key to a healthy spiritual life is to “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”

Unfortunately, this is the opposite of how many Americans live today. From workaholism to cellphone addiction to the constant pressure to stay connected, modern life leaves little room for stillness. Silence is treated as something to be filled, not practiced. Yet without moments of quiet, the mind never settles, and anxiety finds fertile ground.

Hack: Schedule one daily “noise fast”: no phone, no podcasts, no news. Even 10 minutes of silence can recalibrate an overstimulated nervous system.

The Body Trains the Mind

I recently started working out again. My daughter wanted a gym membership, so I agreed to get us both one. The results shocked me. I couldn’t believe how good I felt.

I share this anecdote for a reason: Thinkers from Marcus Aurelius to Seneca to Epictetus recognized the link between a healthy body and a healthy mind. If you’re feeling anxious, the solution may be surprisingly simple: more exercise.

A large body of scientific research confirms that working out reduces anxiety. For example, a meta‑analysis published in Nature found that even a single session of exercise lowers blood pressure reactivity to stress, a key physiological marker of the stress response.

Hack: Begin your day with a few pushups, just to form the habit and prove to yourself that you can do it. Take a short nature walk every day; it can be as simple as strolling down a tree-lined street.

Order Begins at Home

My grandfather always made his bed in the morning, a habit he developed in the Navy. I eventually adopted this habit myself. When Jordan Peterson says, “Clean your ... room,” he isn’t focused on the room itself; he’s pointing to the self-transformation that happens when we take action.

Thinkers from Plato to Confucius argued that social harmony begins with personal order, but that’s not why I make my bed. I do it because it makes me feel good. It reminds me that I have agency.

Economists note that all human action begins with individual action. Understanding that you have the power to shape your surroundings—to make it orderly or beautiful—is a reminder that you control your life.

Hack: Set an alarm to remind you to clean one small space every day: a desk, a kitchen counter, a backpack. Physical order reduces cognitive load and restores a sense of balance.

Stop Catastrophizing

The Roman thinker Seneca warned that we suffer more in imagination than in reality. Constantly assuming the worst is a failure of reason, yet it’s one that many people fall prey to today.

Reports of people suffering from “eco-distress,” “eco-anxiety,” and “eco-grief” are through the roof. The 24/7 news cycle only makes this phenomenon worse. This is not to say that the issues of the day—the national debt, climate change, Social Security, or the war in Ukraine—are unimportant. Nor is it to say that you shouldn’t be aware of current events. But perspective matters.

A brief look at history shows that humans have endured a lot, including a lot of catastrophizing, and that we today enjoy comforts and living standards our ancestors could scarcely have imagined. Yes, wars and disasters will come and pass, and yes, you’ll die one day. But this has always been the case, and the world will continue long after you’re gone.

Hack: Ask one question when anxiety spikes: Has your dark fear actually happened yet? If not, and it’s outside of your control, refuse to pay the emotional toll.

Conclusion

Today’s anxiety feels unprecedented, and in some ways it is. Certain threats modern humans face, such as nuclear annihilation, are unique. Yet chronic anxiety is not unavoidable. The Stoics understood that humans have a remarkable capacity to control how we feel, and they offered practical tools for navigating life’s uncertainties with resilience.

“We appear to go through life reacting directly to events and all else in the world,“ Ward Farnsworth wrote in ”The Practicing Stoic.“ ”That appearance is an illusion.

“We react to our judgments and opinions—to our thoughts about things, not to things themselves.”

The old wisdom still works, if one is willing to practice it.