"Please learn the pragmatics of expressing fear: sometimes words that seem to express really invoke."

-David Foster Wallace, from Infinite Jest


The other day I was talking to a good friend about impending feelings of depression, loneliness, and fear. She was saying that when she feels depressed, showering helps for some reason. We then began to talk about the things that help ease bad emotions in the immediate present, even though they're usually just physical distractions. It was then decided that instead of trying stave off such uncomfortable and upsetting emotions, one should maybe just embrace them, work through them, and generally just let them out. Maybe the relentless struggle to distract oneself and "get over" these feelings really just amplifies them in an unconstructive way.