Tech and Tea

Tech and Tea

Share this post

Tech and Tea
Tech and Tea
Feelings on top of feelings

Feelings on top of feelings

feelings we resist and judge ourselves for

Jean Hsu's avatar
Jean Hsu
Mar 27, 2023
∙ Paid
3

Share this post

Tech and Tea
Tech and Tea
Feelings on top of feelings
Share

I’ve been noticing a pattern lately when more “unpleasant” feelings show up, both in myself and with friends, coworkers, and others I chat with.

Here are a few examples of the pattern:


You feel insecure in a relationship, and want more reassurances from your significant other. Then you judge yourself for feeling insecure and start to feel fearful that you might scare the other person away with your neediness.

You feel unmotivated and uninterested by climbing the conventional career ladder and setting career goals. Then you judge yourself for being unambitious, and that you should be more interested in what it seems like everyone else is interested in. What’s wrong with you that you’re not?

You feel overwhelmed by life and work, due to a perfect storm of stressful events. Then you judge yourself for feeling so overwhelmed and not as resilient as other people. Everyone else seems to be handling their lives just fine, why can’t you?

You feel tired and unmotivated to do work or chores, and just want to nap or watch Netflix. Then you judge yourself for being lazy and aimless. How are you going to achieve or accomplish anything if you’re so unproductive? Why are you like this?


Do you see the pattern?

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Tech and Tea to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Jean Hsu
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share