Anxiety - Good, Bad and Ugly!

II hadI

I have to admit that being anxious about anything is rather difficult to describe. It's a vague term that can affect our physical health, make us apprehensive and can be anywhere from mild to chronic.  But one thing I do know about anxiety, it is part of every ones existence and something we have to deal with in our lives.

Perhaps you are in bed asleep at night and suddenly a strange noise wakes you up. You sit up in bed and worry that someone has broken into your house. Is there danger lurking down that dark stairwell? Later you discover that your dog knocked against a chair in the kitchen! Nevertheless, you experienced a few anxious moments when your heart quickens and there is that release of adrenaline.

Of course we recreational sailors often experience anxious moments when the weather turns nasty or a dirty squall suddenly catches us off guard!

Growing up as a teenager I was anxious about my place in the family. Having older peers was good in the sense they provided the "initial training ground" for my parents, and that made it a lot easier for the rest of us. Nevertheless, there were anxious moments around special privileges, popularity, exams, sex or a death in the family. As adults there is always the anxiety around money or as you age, health issues.

Recently I read in the papers that anxiety is the great enemy of modern man. The papers are full of war stories, pirates attacking ships, demonstrations in the streets, unemployment, job security, rising cost of living, a changing environment, the escalating price of gas - to name a few. Yes, our world gives us lots of reasons to be anxious, and we all deal with it differently.

 On the other hand anxiety is something like pain. It serves a useful purpose in that it alerts us to activate our defences in time of danger. It helps us plan for the future and prepares us to cope with the many 'setbacks' in life. We all know someone who works best under pressure.

Sometimes, our anxiety is simply based on previous experiences. Some people may have a problem with authority that is the result of some one lording it over them when they were young. Perhaps it was an overbearing father or father figure. Now I respect those with true authority, such as professionals,  even though I will challenge their ideas. But those who have been "given" a position of power and then delude themselves into believing they have some inherent right to treat the rest of us as children...that really bugs me! It used to make me anxious when confronted by such a person. Now I can simply choose flight over fight most of the time.

 Over the years I have also learned that when I am anxious about something I also needed to examine my own belief system to see if it was the cause of my own anxiety. For example, if for some reason I believed I had to be loved by everyone or everyone had to approve everything I do or say - well I would suffer some anxiety if they did not act accordingly! Now if someone disapprove of my behaviour or thinks my idea is ridiculous, it's really not such a terrible catastrophe. Clear thinking can really dispel unreasonable expectations of ourselves and what we expect from others. When I get a clear picture of the cause of my anxiety, it is so much easier to forget it and move on. On the other hand, I don't want to miss a learning opportunity if there is truly one to be had.

So I find myself in agreement with the TIME Magazine cover: Anxiety can indeed be good for you when it provides an opportunity for personal growth or learning something new about oneself and our relationship to others in the world.

And that's a Dick's View of the World this Week