Making Anxiety Work for You
Professor Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, author of Future Tense: Why Anxiety is Good for You (Even Though it Feels Bad), defines anxiety as “nervous apprehension about the uncertain future.”
Dr. Kelly McGonigal says that anxiety occurs when our “heart is in it.” We feel anxious when we care deeply about something, and our body is signaling that we value the event or outcome that we are facing. She argues that when you feel your heart pounding, you can reframe your reaction to your anxiety by telling yourself your heart is in it.
Dr. McGonigal compares our anxiety to the neurotransmitter cocktail that we seek when we try something daring: a combination of adrenaline, dopamine, and endorphins. She says this feeling is the “energy of anxiety” and that if we learn to reinterpret it as our body preparing to help us perform, we can develop a healthier relationship with anxiety.
Dr. Dennis-Tiwary says that when dopamine is released, we are motivated to take action to create the future that we want. She argues that anxiety is not the problem, it is our relationship with anxiety that is broken. Because the physical symptoms of anxiety can feel uncomfortable, we have assumed that it is bad for us. A common reaction is to try to suppress or avoid anxiety. “We’ve lost the acceptance that mental health does not equal the absence of emotional suffering or discomfort, that actually mental health is the engagement with emotional suffering and working through rather than around.”
Anxiety grabs our attention and helps us prepare for that uncertain future. When you reframe anxiety as information you need to pay attention to, you can utilize the energy of anxiety to craft positive outcomes.
Antifragility, a term coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, is the idea that we can learn, grow, and change by being challenged, suffering discomfort, or by experiencing failure. Just like challenges to our muscles or immune system help us grow stronger, strain on our emotions can help us develop coping skills. Reframing our relationship with anxiety can help us build resilience.
Takeaway: Learning to use anxiety as a tool for navigating outcomes you care about can become a source of mental strength.
Well-being is a journey, not a quick fix
Sources
Matt Abrahams and Kelly M. McGonigal, Feeling Nervous? How Anxiety can Fuel Better Communication, Insights by Stanford Business, Oct. 11, 2022, Feeling Nervous? How Anxiety Can Fuel Better Communication | Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Dacher Keltner and Kira M. Newman, How We Misunderstand Anxiety and Miss Out on Its Benefits, Greater Good Magazine, Sept. 7, 2022, How We Misunderstand Anxiety and Miss Out on Its Benefits (berkeley.edu).
