The Shakespeare Mindset: Calm Your Anxiety In This Fast-Paced World With Help From The Most Famous Writer In The Universe

Dave Cohen, Horrible Histories Song Guy, Inspired by Mel Robbins and Mel Brooks
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Philosophy

Stuck in a rut? Scared of change? Stressed about the world? Anxious for yourself and your loved ones? Know what, more than 400 years ago everyone felt the same way only without the comfort of light bulbs, central heating and cute Christmas rom coms. William Shakespeare wrote about it all - even the cute rom coms - and offered many answers to all kinds of modern questions such as what can we do to conquer our fears, how do we survive around difficult people and how do we become the best version of ourselves? He also asked: to be or not to be? We still don't know the answer to that one. My name's Dave Cohen - comedian, author and BAFTA winning Horrible Histories lyric writer turned Shakespeare fanboy; and I'm here to tell you that there are only two ways to cope with life's problems - the hard way or the Bard way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 3d ago

    How We Became Obsessed With Numbers and The REAL Reason Why Focusing on Metrics and Goals Raise Your Stress and Anxiety

    "The sands are numbered, that make up my life." Wouldn't life be wonderful if we were 10 pounds lighter or a thousand pounds richer? Whether you're trying to lose the pounds or gain them, having a specific number to aim for isn't necessarily going to make you happier. I've always had a tendency to overweightness, and I can't tell you how many times I've celebrated reaching my goal weight by stuffing my face with cake and beer. Numbers can give us a sense of achievement but they can also make us miserable. It's time to take a look at those digits on the page, give them a beady stare and remind them of their place, and that they are not the holy grail, merely a bunch of squiggles. Everybody was getting very excited by numbers around the time of Shakespeare, especially as people switched over from using Roman numerals to the Hindu-Arabic symbols we've been using ever since. Imagine being able to write 1883 in numbers and not, as it would have been around the time Shakespeare was born, MDCCCLXXXIII. But there's a danger of those numbers taking on extra meaning. Big isn't necessarily good, sometimes less is more, and on other occasions we can give numbers a significance beyond their simple squiggle meaning. I'd like to think that by the end of this episode you will have added up all the pros and cons, multiplied by three, taken away the number you first thought of and realised that there's a heck of a lot more to life than numbers. Plays mentioned this week include Henry 20% (just kidding, it's really called Henry the fifth), Richards II and III, King Lear and The Tempest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. Oct 27

    The Strange Lessons You Can Learn About Dealing With Stress & Anxiety From Shakespeare's Experience of Burnout

    "Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed." Do you ever get the feeling that however much you're doing, however hard you try, however fast you're moving, you feel like you're getting nowhere? Sounds to me like you're (I'm) suffering from burnout. No this isn't one of those podcasty words like manifestation and journalling, burnout is a real medical thing with serious consequences if you don't deal with it. Did Shakespeare suffer from burnout? How could he, the bloomin thing was only invented in 1974? I'm not going to go there and try and take modern things and impose them on his life - although today's quote at the start comes from one of his sonnets so even if he didn't suffer it he sure as heck knows how to describe the feeling. If you can manage for a moment to lift the duvet from over your head and peep back into the world that made you weary with toil in today's episode I hope to ease you gently back to a place where you can at least feel strong enough to step back in and win back your life. No one will ever be able to say what Shakespeare was going through, but strangely everything that happened to him in a crucial five year period maps perfectly onto the classic definition of burnout, from massively productive honeymoon period down to total crashout, and everything in between. The way he gets out of it as well mirrors what we can do in our own lives to escape its clutches. There are few plays looked at in this episode because I am daring to discuss only Shakespeare's life, but Twelfth Night gets a special mention because it falls slap in the middle of Shakespeare's 'burn-out/not burn-out' phase. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. Oct 20

    How Avoiding Conflict Might Be Why Your Anxiety, Stress and Overwhelm are Through The Roof And Shakespeare's 5 Rules Of Fight Club

    "Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting that would not let me sleep." Most of us do anything - ANYTHING - to avoid conflict. There's always a dozen good reasons for standing on the sidelines. For instance, we might get hurt. Better to call the police. Then again what if you have to be a witness in a court case? We've seen those movies where one minute you see a crime being committed and the next you're hiding in an Amish community falling in love with Kelly McGillis. What's the point of making a fuss? The problem is, by refusing to do anything you're giving a free ride to that small number of people who love conflict. No wonder we get stressed and anxious doing what we can to stay on the right side of those bad-tempered short-fuse types who force us to tiptoe around them. What can we do to alleviate the stress? Well let's not be hasty here, not jumping in is probably the first rule of Fight Club. Sooner or later though you're going to have to react. Trying to make the peace is the second rule and is equally as sensible, but what if that fails? Time to call on the Mel Robbins of Stratford-upon Avon. Since nearly all of Shakespeare's plays are about conflict, even the funny ones, there's a whole toolbox of handy hints for resolution. Not always a happy ending, but then do you really want to keep living with the stress and anxiety of doing nothing at all? Rule three examines the best way to pick your battles, rule four tells you what you'd rather not hear and rule five... well you're going to have to get to the end to find out rule five. Bloomin eck I'm not gonna tell you everything am I? Wanna fight about it? Plays featured this week include Romeo and Juliet - which let's face it is a non-stop fightorama - Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra, Antony being the best example of rule three and the worst of four. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. Oct 13

    Never More Connected, Never Felt Lonelier? Shakespeare Struggled With This Anxiety And Stress But Found A Way Through And You Can Too

    "Society is no comfort, to one not sociable." We keep being told how exciting it is to be so connected to the rest of the world, but at the same time you and I know, don't we, that that little glowing box of the universe in our pockets isn't making us less lonely - if anything it's making things worse. This contradiction sneaks up on us and before you know it, to quote someone's podcast show notes about PTSD I just read, "your stress bucket can fill before you even realise you're running on empty." Which has now become my favourite mixed metaphor in the English language. There are so many types of loneliness that it's difficult to know where to begin. Thankfully Shakespeare has helped us tremendously with so many of his plays, that before we work out our own problems we can start to separate out the different types. So many of the plays deal with the loneliness of the person who rules the kingdom. It's tough at the top. Okay so I'm guessing that doesn't refer specifically to you and me, but these people are the same as us, they have the same desires and flaws, only their decisions have bigger consequences. It's when we look at loneliness despite being connected that Shakespeare captures so beautifully that feeling of painful isolation. He examines grief, mismatched friendship, family differences and without pretending that the end result will always be rosy and cheerful, helps us navigate our way through and teaches us to cope. Thanks to Shakespeare we can ensure that our stress bucket remains empty while our cars fill up with petrol. Plays featured this week include Richard the Third, Hamlet, and Henry the fifth's greatest hits from Henry the fourth part one through to the play where he gets his own name in star billing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. Oct 6

    Is Your Anxiety and Stress At an All-Time High Because AI's Destroying Humanity? Steal Shakespeare's Strategy For Dealing With Doom & Gloom News

    "The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve..." Just as we're learning to live with endless wars, warming oceans and a new series of Traitors, along comes a nerdy scientist who tells us that AI might possibly destroy humanity. Thanks for cheering me up mate. Of all the worries that we have to face in the world, our everyday struggles and anxieties, there's nothing more guaranteed to raise the blood pressure than this little snippet of jollity reported recently that 'there's a 10 per cent chance the world is about to be destroyed by robots.' How on earth are we supposed to get on with our lives with all this nonsense screaming in our ears? Shakespeare may have wondered this too, living in an era when the end of the world was expected every second Thursday. Shakespeare found a number of ways to deal with the doomers and gloomers, not always with fun and laughs - although joking about it certainly helps. He also dared to confront the new King, James the first who was himself a true believer in the apocalypse, with plays that explained how every problem happening in the world was not created by celestial conjunctions, evil devils or the big hand of Him, but almost invariably a human being. A person, just like you and me. I know I'm supposed to be reassuring you and I've probably just made things worse. But we have survived 180 separate predictions of the world's end since 1500 alone so you never know, there's life in the old planet yet. Plays mentioned in today's show: Macbeth is the biggie, but honourable mentions also for Richard the Third and a selection of Sonnets dealing with the end of the world as we know it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. Sep 29

    Feeling Anxious? I've Got A Mind To Relieve Your Stress

    “Be not afeard: the isle is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.” Have you ever waited for a reply to your email and panicked after five minutes that the person hasn't got back to you because they've been made so angry by it they're never going to talk to you again, ever? Or been ever so slightly concerned when someone leaves an AI company because he's 10 per cent convinced they're about to destroy humanity, including you, your best mate and the entire neighbourhood? It's okay my friend, let me take you by the hand and lead you, gently, to a place of rational equanimity. With a bit of help from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. CBT is a simple easy-to-apply therapy developed in the 1960s that helps you to take your darkest thoughts and dial them down to something you can cope with - but guess what, the whole thing is based on a singe line of Shakespeare's that's guaranteed to calm you an instant. I'd love to tell you what it is but in ye ancient time-honoured tradition of clickbait I'm afraid you have to listen to the show to find out what it is. Listen to how Brutus justifies killing Julius Caesar and work out that in order to take action you don't necessarily have to go down the 'assassinate the supreme leader' route. Plays mentioned in this episode are Hamlet and Julius Caesar, which are more than enough to solve all your cognitive behavioural issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. Sep 22

    Don't Feel Anxious About Money - You Owe It To Yourself

    "Whiles I am a beggar, I will say there is no sin but to be rich; and being rich, shall say there is no vice but beggary." Why don't we ever talk about money? Especially if we're struggling with it. It's because we feel guilty, embarrassed, ashamed. We're made to feel bad for wanting to borrow a few quid while giant American corporations are literally throwing billions of dollars at a bunch of middle aged sci-fi nerds even as they explain that their plan is to inadvertently destroy humanity. We really do have the most ridiculous attitude to money don't we. This week, I'm hoping with the help of Shakespeare to develop a healthier attitude to money, explain why our emotions are so tied in to our financial transactions, and to come to terms with not having as much as we like. Oh and explain why 'neither a borrower or a lender be' is crap advice. (Shakespeare understood that. And he also had a dad who was terrible with money. Luckily for dad his son was minting it from an early age). Plays mentioned in today's show: The Merchant of Venice (yes I know, it's a show about the money, money, money), Timon of Athens, King Lear, and a selection of financial sounding Sonnets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. Sep 15

    How Do We Stop Feeling Anxious about The World?

    “O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee!” Do you ever find yourself scrolling down your phone and stopping only when something truly terrifying grabs your attention? (You do know that's the economic model for these platforms don't you? You know they're not deliberately trying to scare you, it's just they know your old brain is wired to read the grim stuff so that you stay on their platform and generously hand over you data to them.) Has there ever been a more anxious time to be a member of the human race? Actually yes in Shakespeare's time they had several plagues, a climate disaster, forever wars, fears of big food shortages and angry men arriving at ports to shout at the immigrants fleeing in boats across the English Channel. This week I'm hoping to bring your anxiety levels down from "aaarrggghh" to "ahh", although removing all those rrrgggs was made harder when half way through writing one of those Large Language Model companies currently burning a hole in the whole of America's finances gleefully announced that they were developing a machine that could probably wipe out all of humanity in the next few years or so. Don't Panic. Keep Calm and try not to get too stressed by those annoying tea towels that urge you to keep calm and grow a bonsai tree or whatever. You can start by breathing gently, being aware of your physical needs, but also by seeing how a number of Shakespeare characters coped with the stress of plagues, angry kings and heavy crowns. Plays featured in this episode are Hamlet, Henry the Fourth, Much Ado About Nothing (for the first time I'm delighted to say), Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth - all the big anxious heavyweights there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Stuck in a rut? Scared of change? Stressed about the world? Anxious for yourself and your loved ones? Know what, more than 400 years ago everyone felt the same way only without the comfort of light bulbs, central heating and cute Christmas rom coms. William Shakespeare wrote about it all - even the cute rom coms - and offered many answers to all kinds of modern questions such as what can we do to conquer our fears, how do we survive around difficult people and how do we become the best version of ourselves? He also asked: to be or not to be? We still don't know the answer to that one. My name's Dave Cohen - comedian, author and BAFTA winning Horrible Histories lyric writer turned Shakespeare fanboy; and I'm here to tell you that there are only two ways to cope with life's problems - the hard way or the Bard way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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