Can Anxiety be a Good Thing?
Our culture often stigmatizes anxiety as a sign of weakness or something to get rid of. This can make sense when we think of the discomfort that anxiety brings. We assume that if it feels bad, we must get rid of it. However, we often miss what anxiety can teach or how it can motivate us.
When we have a worry about our health, for example, we need to allow that emotion to motivate us to make an appointment with our doctor. This is a good thing, anxiety is protecting us in the present. Anxiety doesn’t have to be a problem or mean that there is something wrong with us. We don’t have to feel anxious about feeling anxious.
In her book Future Tense: Why Anxiety is Good for You (Even Though it Feels Bad), Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, describes how we misunderstand anxiety. In an interview with Dacher Keltner featured in Greater Good Magazine, she explains, “This disease story tells us, well, you have to prevent and eradicate and avoid it. And it tells us those bad feelings are a warning sign. They’re a malfunction, perhaps, or a failure of happiness, of mental health, so we have to fix it.” She goes on to point out that ignoring anxiety doesn’t make it go away.
Anxiety can be a call to get curious about what is happening and build awareness in a mindful manner.
We don’t have to panic, but we might need to investigate. Scheduling that doctors appointment is an act of investigating. We can work on keeping it there instead of trying to predict an awful future coping with a disease. When we schedule that appointment it is an act of self care. Ignoring that anxiety and not allowing it to motivate us to investigate could have devastating consequences. We can also learn to experience anxiety without feeling panic. We can know that we might be facing a serious medical issue when we make that medical appointment but also have hope that the tests come back negative or that treatment works.
Dennis-Tiwary point out that while anxiety can be helpful, sometimes it’s not important to pay attention to. We can work to let go of the unhelpful thoughts about the future and come back to the present. It there is nothing to be done (or if we have already done it), we can allow the thoughts and feelings to pass. If we keep coming back to something, that can be a sign that it needs our attention.
She suggests that if we connect this worry or anxiety to a sense of purpose (like taking care of our health) it can me easier to connect to hope. We don’t have to like anxiety or what it motivates us to do (like seeing a Dr.) but we can appreciate when it leads to effective action.
We want to allow for anxiety as a normal part of the human experience without letting it get in our way. When anxiety keeps us from doing what we want to do, we need to seek help/treatment. Avoiding the discomfort that comes with anxiety limits the richness of our lives.
