While reading about anxiety I came across a Lacanian graph that resembled a clock, so in true Lacanian fashion, I’m going to make up my own aphorism, and say that anxiety is anxiety about time. There is a temporal aspect to anxiety, in that we can’t stop worrying about the future. Chinese people tend to favour the horse due to its representation of perseverance, progress and freedom (think of idioms such as  一马当先、马不停蹄), we believe that you reap what you sow, and that toiling away is the necessary path to a bright future.

And what is the horse racing against if not time? The horse is always trotting forward, never resting or looking back. But be careful, as Brecht’s “Threepenny Opera” illuminates: if you run too fast after happiness, you may overtake it and happiness may stay behind.

The story of the maiden and the unicorn serves as an allegory for courtly love. However, the unicorn, writes Rilke, “is the animal that doesn’t exist”. Perhaps we reach the end of an arduous quest, only to find that all this time we have been chasing after mere fantasy. “牛马” (ox and horse), a term popularized by the young working class, echoes the sentiment that hard work rarely pays off these days. The neoliberal slogan “be your own master” mirrors the dark reality that you are also your own slave.

So while some are “galloping to success”, I’d rather be horsing around this year!