Anxious? Slow down with a Fast (Not That Kind)
When everything’s too loud, clear space for something better. | Issue 17
Wildfires in one state. Political chaos in another. Economic forecasts ping-pong between doom and delusion. The headlines aren’t just scary, they’re relentless.
Meanwhile, your group chat is debating school schedules, someone at work is pushing another "urgent" project, and your kid just asked if the dog can have a phone.
It’s no wonder ambient anxiety is our new default setting.
But ambient doesn’t mean harmless. It’s that low hum of unease (invisible mental clutter) that leaves you drained before lunch and wide awake after midnight.
And if your solution has been to just keep grinding—to schedule better, optimize harder, or download another app—you’re not alone. But you’re probably still humming.
Here’s a radical idea: try a fast.
The Ambient Anxiety We Ignore
Psychologists have coined the phrase "low-level chronic stress" to describe what many of us experience daily: an ongoing sense of mild distress that doesn’t incapacitate us but wears us down over time. According to a 2023 study published in Frontiers in Psychology, the most common triggers include “cognitive overload, continuous digital stimuli, and unclear emotional states.”
Translation? We’re not wired to consume 10,000 micro-updates a day and still sleep well.
Our current world of alerts, endless content, and infinite tabs creates a mental environment where we’re constantly stimulated but rarely grounded.
As Cal Newport puts it in Digital Minimalism, we’ve grown so accustomed to distraction that we feel unease the moment silence arrives. Our instinct is to reach for input, not introspection.
Which means the fix isn’t more input. It’s interruption.
The Fast (Clear the Noise)
Let’s be clear: a fast doesn’t mean total asceticism. You don’t have to throw your phone in a lake or cancel your Wi-Fi.
It just means hitting pause on the noisy input that drowns your own thoughts.
Here are a few solid candidates:
24 hours with no social media (or a week, if you're brave)
A moratorium on news headlines before lunch
Turning off Slack or email after dinner
No Netflix during weekdays
A digital Sabbath (sunset to sunset, once a week)
Think of it (fasting) like weeding your garden. You can’t see the shape of your own soul if it’s buried under algorithmic compost.
Pro tip: tell someone. Social accountability strengthens intentional habits.
The Replacement (Fill with Meaning)
Every fast creates a vacuum. If you don’t fill it with something life-giving, you’ll default back to what feels easy—even if that’s doomscrolling or binge-watching.
Here’s where the practice turns transformative: fill the space with intention.
Try:
Journaling in the morning instead of checking news
Reading fiction instead of refreshing Twitter (still calling it that)
Making real food, slowly
Taking an unstructured walk
Sitting with your kid and building a LEGO set
Calling a friend just to catch up
None of this is productivity porn. You’re not doing these things to impress anyone. You’re doing them because they remind you that you are a human being, not a content processor.
James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) reminds us that "every action you take is a vote for the kind of person you want to become."
Fasting and replacing is just that: a weekly election for your future self.
The Fruit (Gratitude Reappears)
Here’s the surprising payoff. When you step away from constant noise and re-center around presence, something subtle and beautiful begins to rise: gratitude.
This isn’t forced thankfulness or toxic positivity. It’s more like natural awareness:
You hear your child laugh and realize it’s the first sound that cut through your mental clutter all day.
You taste your coffee instead of just ingesting it.
You walk the block and feel the sun instead of checking your step count.
Studies from Harvard's Happiness Research Center (yes, that's a real thing) show a direct connection between gratitude journaling and reduced anxiety levels over time. Naming what we're grateful for lowers stress hormones, even in high-performer environments.
Here’s the catch: you have to slow down long enough to notice.
And that’s what a fast facilitates. It clears the static so gratitude can surface. Gratitude doesn’t just feel good. It steadies you. It makes you more resilient, more curious, and slightly less convinced that you have to solve everything.
Let the Hum Die Down
This week, instead of cramming another productivity trick into your crowded day, try something different.
Pick a noise source. Pause it. Replace it. Notice what returns.
The fast won’t fix everything. But it will thin the static. And in that space, you might find room to breathe, to reflect, to reconnect. You might remember who you are, and who you’re still becoming.
And if you're lucky, that gut-level hum just might quiet down long enough for gratitude to sing.
✢ Everyday Formation is for the over-extended, under-rooted soul trying to live with intention in a world built for distraction.
If ambient anxiety has you humming like a broken fridge, you’re not alone. We’re all trying to make meaning, hold values, and parent ourselves through a tech-saturated fog.
→ Download the STOP FLOATING guide—it’s free and surprisingly analog.
→ Explore tools, retreats, and reflections at groundedandgrowing.carrd.co
And hey, if your phone has more influence on your mood than your faith, family, or favorite book... maybe it’s time for a fast.