Even the drowning animal by whatever deterministic mechanism that put him there will struggle and fight to survive.
So it seem there is a somewhat if you could call it a choice……. Which is both innate and tempered by mental compulsions etc to achieve stability or better one’s situation. To merely wallow in self pity is to shoot yourself in the foot.
Anxiety can be environmentally induced too.
It’s a not your choice but your responsibility kind of situation.
Feeling self-pity is freeing. I feel sorry for myself, because through no fault of my own, I am. I understand the animalistic drive to keep on, not just yourself, but create more life. But I don't feel particularly inclined to put other potential non-consenting humans through the same thing.
Being sorry for yourself does quite the opposite of making me feel worse, I find it invigorating. Being aware of deterministic biology and accepting that no higher order controls this madness of a world, lets me feel whichever way I want, do whatever thing I want, while staying true to my interests and not feel bad about anything.
I only own myself in this world, the only thing I own suffers an imposed existence. I feel sorry every day.