Anxiety can sometimes be a useful signal, but you need to think carefully about what your anxiety really signifies. Fear and anxiety can help to protect us from danger, but if misunderstood it can also stop you from doing things that you really should do. Sometimes, what you’re really anxious about isn’t even immediately related to the situation at hand, but rather to a past or present fear involving other situations, events or people. Chronic anxiety can be especially problematic if we don’t understand it.
Key Takeaways:
- The author believes that rather than think of conquering anxiety or pushing it to the background, we should attempt to understand its message.
- Anxiety is a danger signal but then we have to decode what the nature of the danger is and what is the signal telling us to do.
- When we want to make a decision like sending an angry email or make purchases on a new house, our brains might be sending us anxiety signals.
“Are we feeling anxious because we are boldly charting new territory, or because we’re about to do something stupid?”