TGIF + The Ecstatic
Where are you getting your state change?
In an earlier column, I wrote about the Zoochosis Hypothesis sharing the evidence that people are showing signs of disease and stress first observed in poorly housed zoo animals. This is a follow up column on how one can start to escape the stress and claustrophobic sensation of feeling trapped.
The difference between a cage and a den for an animal is worth thinking about because they are both tight enclosures. Each keeps out some of the dangers of the world. But a cage brings claustrophobia and stress and a den provides comfort and security. I hope you are screaming at me that a way out changes everything. Because it does.
The difference then is in the mind. A refuge and a trap share too much architecture for it to be otherwise.
When people report the kinds of maladies shared by poorly housed zoo animals, unless people are incarcerated they are not in physical cages. And yet, everyday people report feeling trapped and having stress they can’t escape. Our cages are not as easy to see as the ones around a lion. They are social, economic and mental. In other words, people walk around pretending that they are more stuck than they are.
Since the trap is in the mind, what we are looking for when we feel trapped is state change. We sometimes need to feel different than we usually do. People need state change. People need to feel ecstatic, loose, in the flow and at play. People who don’t have a reliable way to change their state, start to feel trapped and claustrophobic in their own minds.
So I ask you now, how are you getting your state change? How do you find ecstatic moments? How do you make sure you aren’t trapped in a tough place in your own mind?
The good news is state change is widely available. When someone has a hard day at work, they can stop at a happy hour, order their favorite drink, and feel different for a couple hours. Knowing this stress escape exists and using it as needed can make the trapped feeling of stress walls closing in disappear. And that’s why the global market for alcoholic drinks reached nearly two trillion dollars in 2025. They offer a quick state change, shaken or stirred. The illicit drugs market offers the same value proposition. Smoke, ingest, snort or inject their product and you will feel different. State change can be as easy as tipping your bartender.
Of course, you already know alcohol and drugs have drawbacks. First, alcohol and most drugs provide diminishing state change returns. The more you drink, the more you have to drink to get to the same level of state change. Even before one considers the harms, diminishing returns is already bad news. It’s like you find an exit from the stress but every time you use it that door gets a little smaller until you can no longer fit through at all. The need for state change is still there but you are once again stuck in a stressful state you can’t escape.
And then, alcohol and many drugs are addictive and toxic in ways that can ruin your life if used without moderation. If you need a rundown of all the risks of immoderate drinking or drug use, they are easy to find.
Here I am encouraging people to think about having some additional ways to change how you feel when you need it. Because if your only door to state change is a six-pack, you are going to feel trapped again before long.
What follows are some alternatives for state change without substances. Each have their own pros and cautions. But everyone needs a few ways out of their stressed minds or they will start to feel like their existence has become a cage.
If you want to read more about the doors to state change, consider supporting the column. Otherwise, have an amazing Friday and weekend. I hope you touch the ecstatic realms in your own best way.