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Carl Jung Warned: There Are Only Four Things to Worry About In Life

6 min readJul 7, 2026

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“You’ve got to be more honest, Andy.” My friend said after I laughed at a joke I didn’t find funny. “You try to make everyone happy, but I can see it doesn’t make you happy.”

He told me that I did that a lot.

What hurt most was not being called out by someone I love, but that he made me confront what I’d been denying for years, and that was pleasing others so I could belong.

“We cannot change anything until we accept it.” Carl Jung added bluntly.

That day I had to accept it. I had to accept that I wasn’t doing the person I laughed along with, nor my friend, nor myself any favours by not being true. No one wins from a lack of authenticity. And not being authentic was something Carl Jung said was worth worrying about in life.

Below are a few more.

1. Living An Unexamined Life

Having people like my friend in my life has helped me examine why I laugh at jokes I don’t find funny, why I play the nice guy, and why it’s important for me to fit in.

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The Academic
The Academic

Published in The Academic

The Academic is a top tier, peer-reviewed publication on Medium brought to you by a global community of subject-matter experts.