Because you excel at nothing?

i only mention this because despite having met many people who try and get one over on you the guy next to me at work takes some beating. literally no subject or thing passes by without him chiming in and its driving everyone mad.

when you're a pussy! :D

hm. nefeli wins.

we can't one-up her, and who would even want to?

i surrender! :D

If you were intelligent enough and you weren't scared of people bragging about their own (false or not) achievements surely you wouldn't worry about their antics, no?

It is interesting that those who make priority to show their lack of anxiety in social circles often have the most deep seeded anxieties of us all. They fear their own fear and hide it. I believe these people are what this thread is about.

I'd rather seek to improve myself than be comfortable and complacent. And that is exactly what lacking anxiety leads to, complacency. Fear death and let it enrich life.

shhh... nefeli won already. she's un-one-uppable.





but if you wanna go for 2nd place-- bring it on!

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no, seriously, i was joking this whole thread. are you discussing seriously now?

if you are serious-- fear is natural but anxiety is neurotic i think. same as fear vs cowardice. of course everyone feels fear. but cowards are controlled by it. isn't it how it works?

and about the desperate one-uppers-- tends to be a male pattern, at least in the most stereotypical way. kenny vs. spenny?

Scared and annoyed are not the same in this context. To be scared of their achievements is to be apart of the competition, to be annoyed is to be reminded of the competition when you're motivated by other forces like exploration or expression.

Aren't you replying in what comes across as the tone similar to what I'd expect from someone who is one-upping another person? Duh.

no, he does genuinely sound like aristotle. which is cool, in my book.

Awwwww!

I've been just trying to channel my opinion.

Well of course being petrified is unhealthy but being anxious to act is completely healthy. Unfortunately it is the world that allows or prevents us from acting on our anxieties which is what leads to neuroticism but find ways!

I don't know anything about "what you'd expect." But if you think I am, I'm sorry.

You don't need to apologise for anything, certainly not to me.

i am way more sorry than you. i can out-sorry your ass anytime.

Just read over my posts here and realized how much Nietszchian/Derridean rhetoric I was using. Ew. But recognizing the subjective bias of interpreting one-upmanship is important. I have several friends that love to talk about themselves and what they've done. Fortunately I'm an eager listener and am genuinely interested in what they think and have done. BUt I've met other friends that think the others are complete one-uppers.

so you're better than your friends, is what you're saying?

Death to my friends.

I am referring to the existential crisis. I really don't see how much of a difference there is between it as "restlessness" and a "problematic mental state." That depends on your answer to the question. I'm referring to the former because the latter is nihilism and slow death.

I would say "fear" is momentary. The fright or flight moment. Anxiety is within us, a lasting fear regarding existence (or meaning of our own).

I would think that a restlessness that is utterly incapable of being acted upon would lead to the stuck neurosis that you are referring to. To not work towards one's "meaning" is to be stuck in the existential crisis which allows the nihilism (the stuck sensation) to encroach.

I must say, this is all very helpful towards my Hermeneutics final paper.