Free Choice of Anxiety

︎ Illustration, Book design

Anxiety feels like a slow poison rooted deep within me. Past mistakes replay repeatedly in my mind, generating a persistent fear toward the present and the future. I begin to wonder: if I could return to a particular moment in the past and change a single decision, would reality produce a different echo? Would my anxiety also be altered? In this process of reflection and imagination, time no longer appears as a single linear path, but rather as a branching and intertwined system.

焦虑像一种慢性毒素，深植于我的内心。过去的错误不断在脑海中回放，使我对当下与未来产生恐惧。我开始思考：如果能够回到某个过去的时间节点，改变一个决定，现实是否会产生新的回响？我的焦虑是否也会随之改变？在这种不断回溯与想象的过程中，时间仿佛不再是一条单向流动的线，而更像一个不断分岔、交织与循环的系统。