Anxiety 101

Anxiety is our body’s response to stress.  It can come as an overload of worry or excessive apprehension.  It can leave you feeling fatigued, restless, or irritable. You may even experience difficulty sleeping. 

The American Psychological Association defines anxiety as an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes liked increased blood pressure. If it lasts more than six months and affects your day-to-day functioning, you could be diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder.  

Anxiety might feel like muddy water where you struggle to focus or it could feel like a crashing wave that leaves you struggling to catch your breath.  Maybe it is just a vague, unexplained feeling of discomfort throughout your entire body.  Anxiety definitely impacts our body; we experience it somatically.  

We also experience it in our thinking.  We worry and overthink.  We dread and fear upcoming situations.  Our inner critic stays on replay.  These thoughts can be intrusive and difficult to control when fueled by anxiety.   

Anxiety can also be an emotion.  It is a secondary emotion; in other words, it is experienced in place of another emotion.   So, we can see that we experience anxiety as a defense or protection most often against fear.  

In summary, anxiety is part of our fight/flight stress response to an event or situation.  We will notice this response our thoughts, our emotions and in the way our body feels.  All of this will of course manifest in our choices and behavior. 

For this reason, we can view anxiety as a way our nervous system helps us survive and thrive.  It protects, defends, and warns us so that we can be safe, do well, and have a sense of confidence.  Yes, anxiety has a positive purpose in our life.  When we shift our view to appreciate this response of our nervous system and uncover the purpose it is serving, we are on our way to finding relief and ease from the symptoms that cause us discomfort and distress.  

Then we are able to identify more adaptive ways to accomplish this purpose and experience more calm, compassionate, connected, and creative lives. You can find confidence in managing anxiety and use it for your benefit.