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The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Of course you're anxious

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.511.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We use the word “anxiety” to describe stress, dread, worry, panic, even vibes. Which just goes to show: We really don’t know what anxiety is, or where it comes from, or what we’re supposed to do with it. Today’s guest is philosopher Samir Chopra, author of Anxiety: A Philosophical Guide. Chopra argues that anxiety is a permanent feature of being human and the price of being a free, self-conscious creature in an uncertain world. Sean and Samir talk about the difference between fear and anxiety, why modern life seems engineered to keep us on edge, and what Buddhism, existentialism, and Freud can teach us about the anxious mind. Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling) Guest: Samir Chopra, author of Anxiety: A Philosophical Guide We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at thegrayarea@vox.com or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show.  And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday.Listen to The Gray Area ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Support for this show comes from the Working Forest Initiative.

0:04.0

The working forest industry is committed to planting more trees than they harvest.

0:08.0

More than one billion seedlings are planted in U.S. working forests every year.

0:13.0

From biologists to GIS analysts, hiring managers, accountants, and more,

0:18.0

working forest professionals have dedicated their focus

0:20.9

towards sustainability,

0:22.6

using their expertise to help ensure a healthy future

0:25.5

for America's forests.

0:27.5

They say they don't just plan for the future.

0:30.2

They plan it.

0:31.2

You can learn more at workingforestinitiative.com.

0:38.8

When things get hard, how do you talk to yourself?

0:42.1

I'm Rabinajson, VP of fitness programming and head instructor at Peloton,

0:46.1

and this week on my new podcast, Project Swagger, I'm sharing my strategies for how to build better self-talk.

0:53.3

It's time to work on befriending yourself. Follow Project Swagger

0:56.3

wherever you get your podcasts. We seem to be talking about anxiety more than ever. We're diagnosing it

1:07.4

more than ever. We're treating it more than ever. And yet, it's not obvious that

1:13.6

we're handling it any better. In fact, it's not even clear that we understand what we're talking about.

1:20.7

What is anxiety exactly? What are we supposed to do with it? Embrace it? Live with it? Conquer it?

1:29.3

Medicaid it?

1:30.3

If we really are living in an age of anxiety,

1:33.3

I feel like we should have better answers to these questions.

...

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