Joe Strummer Quotes

Sometimes on sets, I shut down, try to focus.

Life is stressful.

I'm trying to stay as calm as possible and focus one day at a time, but when reality sets in, I feel everything: anxiety, excitement, nerves, pressure and joy.

I find it very difficult to relax. I find it increasingly difficult to find outlets for my frustration.

Every day there's a lot of things I block out, because if I start visualising things, I tend to go completely insane. I've always had anxiety issues, and it can totally overwhelm me and suck me under if I'm not keeping focused. I just think and think until I have a panic attack, and then it dies down.

I stress a lot, sometimes.

I'm just not in a place in my life where I worry about something unnecessarily.

When you can't cope with change, you feel overwhelmed, and you look for a simple solution.

There will always be a lot of pressure to cope with.

If you start giving too much importance to pressure, you won't be in the present.

I do not work well when I am in living in a cyclone of panic. I reject actively seeking out destabilization and suffering as a creative model.

The thing is, you don't ever want to have pressure turn to stress.

I don't really compartmentalize well. I'm in a state of anxiety and panic a lot, but it's for different reasons. It used to be because I had nothing going on, but I work very hard and there doesn't seem to be an end to it.

There are a lot of things that I'm allowing myself to be, but it's a conscious effort to experience contentment for me. My brain doesn't do that naturally. I'm very overwhelmed all of the time.

The challenge in my life really is keeping the balance between feeling creatively energized and fulfilled without feeling overwhelmed and like I'm in the middle of a battlefield.

I don't deal at all well with the relative amount of stuff I have to face already.

I don't put myself under pressure.

I've never had a chance to sit down and enjoy what's happened - I've been too panicked about the next move. So I took some time out. I thought either I do this now or in 10 years' time I'll end up in the Priory.

I found out that I couldn't have a nervous breakdown. I tried a couple of times, but it just didn't work out. My mind, my body wouldn't let me.

If I could change one thing about myself I'd be less highly strung. I find my sensibility quite high maintenance.

I think there's a danger, for me at least, in retreating and going inward and depression. I have to stay diligent against that tendency.

I'm not looking for pity, I'm really not, but I'm constantly uneasy and every day it is pretty much like getting up and going to war. Once I shift into the mindset of 'Yeah, you're alive. It's tough. Let's do what we can today,' it's easier.

By forgetting the past and by throwing myself into other interests, I forget to worry.

I started turning 40 at 38. I had pains all over my body. I couldn't sleep, I had rampant anxiety, and I couldn't stop eating and drinking.

I'm much calmer as I get older, but I'm still just as capable of getting that strung-out stressed-out feeling of mental and spiritual unwellness.