That's right - anxiety can be your ally! A little anxiety can be a good thing motivating you to act quickly in the face of danger, for example, or inspiring caution with your finances. Look for patterns. Jesus Heals Anxious Hearts My struggle with anxiety started early. When you experience anxiety you have two choices about where to devote that extra energy; into suppressing it or embracing. Taking time to think about purpose lifts mood, improves concentration and learning. Thus, anxiety is more than just the brains fear circuitry. We are motivated to work for the things we care about, connect with people, and be more productive when anxiety activates our impulses for reward and social connection. Yet, there are dozens of validated therapies, 30 different anti-anxiety medications, hundreds of excellent self-help books, and thousands of rigorous scientific studies. Your email address will not be published. Negative emotions like anxiety have long gotten a bad rap irrational at best, destructive at worst. This gets in the way of self-care, working, connecting with others, and living a fulfilling life. A professor of psychology and neuroscience, and the director of the Emotion Regulation Lab at Hunter College in New York, USA. "From "eco-anxiety" to "FOMO", modern life seems a stressful place to be. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 2014;143 (3):11441158. It isn't hard to get stuck focused on its symptoms and discomforts, looking for anything that can make it go away. Anxiety also activates our drives for reward and social connection, impelling us to work for what we care about, connect with others, and be more productive. William James . You just might be surprised by how helpful this finely tuned resource can be once you practice this change of mindset. The benefits of Wim's method, now practiced by tens of thousands, have been validated by eight university research studies. While anxiety disorders can be paralysing, the widespread use of the term anxiety to mean a general ill-feeling is problematic because it means we accept two key fallacies: (a) experiencing anxiety is dangerous and destructive; and (b) the solution to its pain is to prevent or eradicate it. Yet, most of us have learned to avoid and ignore this useful emotion to our detriment. He required open-heart surgery and I felt overwhelming uncertainty for what the future might hold. In this piece from the BBC in October 2022, author Tracy Dennis-Tiwary discusses the role of strong emotions, namely anxiety, in how we interact with the world. Anxiety can help to prepare us for what we are about to experience (Credit: Getty Images/Javier Hirschfeld). #2 Avoid or Eliminate Toxic Behaviors Sometimes anxious people are forced to limit or eliminate their exposure to toxic behaviors, such as binging on sugar, smoking, drinking alcohol, and doing drugs, because these things can trigger anxiety. From "eco-anxiety" to "FOMO", modern life seems a stressful place to be. You can succeed when you feel anxious as long as you are open to the idea that nervous energy can fuel your performance. Because of this, anxiety isnt harmful from an evolutionary theory perspective. How Do You Answer? When my son was born with a congenital heart condition, like any . Terrible feelings, ones that can't be ignored, also make us want to turn away. I believe that anxiety can be a tool to help us to cope with the challenges that life throws at us. Culturally, we are a nervous wreck, and no one is immune to it. Their findings have been experimentally demonstrated in both animals and humans many times since then. How to use anxiety to your advantage bbc.com Consider anxiety to be a smoke alarm, alerting us that the house is on fire and motivating us to take action. He required open-heart surgery and I felt overwhelming uncertainty for what the future might hold. Aircraft. But how did our conceptualisation of these big ideas evolve? An army transport jet can launch a swarm of cruise missiles using the highly effective, brand-new Rapid Dragon armament With the Information, Resources and Opportunities Required to, With the Information, Resources, and Opportunities Required to, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221017-how-to-use-anxiety-to-your-advantage, US Special Forces will showcase first-ever live fire of airdropped cruise missiles off Northern Norway | The Barents Observer, Navy Probing Super-Secret Seal Mini-Sub Mishap, LCS Glitch | Coffee or Die, NAF Trains 7,000 Special Forces To Curb Insecurity | Leadership, Drought Gives Visitors Rare Chance To Reach Historic Landmark On Foot | Zenger, Will Machines Help Us Become Better Writers? Known as the fight-or-flight response, anxiety is meant to protect us from danger and allow us to react faster to emergencies. Hi Mary Beth, good question & thanks for your interest! So, instead of benefitting from the alarm, putting out the fire, and preventing future fires, we just hope and pray the house doesn't burn down. Those who viewed stressful events as challengesrather than threatsgained energy from their anxiety. You Have More Control Over Cancer Risk Than You Think. I envisage leaving the content available until the end of the year. How to use anxiety to your advantage bbc.com The inexorable logic of this disease metaphor requires us to take it even one step further like other illnesses, from infectious diseases to cancers, until we have suppressed anxiety, we cannot be mentally healthy, just as the mere presence of a cancerous cell means that we're sick. It doesn't have to be a curse, and actually can be used to make our lives better if we resist the trap of fighting or fearing it. When my son was born with a congenital heart condition, like any . It sends us spinning into the future tense, worried and feeling overwhelmed. How to use anxiety to your advantage. We are all born anxious. Emotion. Anxiety may make you smarter. The harm caused by the disease metaphor for anxiety doesn't stop there. How to Use Anxiety to Your Advantage. We do stupider things to cope with stress. When feeling overwhelming fear, the athlete may be unable to move, talk or act at all. Thus, anxiety is more than just the brain's "fear circuitry." Think of anxiety like a smoke alarm, warning that the house is catching fire, and priming us to take useful action. Get the help you need from a therapist near youa FREE service from Psychology Today. You must be signed in to continue. It prepares us to persist, remain vigilant, and act in ways that avert future disaster but also can make positive possibilities into reality. The emotion of anxiety, in contrast, should be considered healthy and normal and even beneficial. Sometimes, it's slow to reveal its message. Getting unsolicited critiques is a terrible ingredient in the recipe of anxiety. It reminds us that a situation needs our attention and motivates us to find a solution. Think of this virtuous cycle of anxiety as having three parts: listen, leverage, and let go. I very much appreciate Dr. Stillerman's thoughtful response, as well as the work of her and her co-authors to advance PACEs awareness in PACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities, How-Tos: Finding Your Way around PACEs Connection, How to use anxiety to your advantage [bbc.com]. But psychologist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary explains why the emotion can be a good thing. How to use anxiety to your advantage - BBC Future. Source: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221017-how-to-use-anxiety-to-your-advantage. The Best Students Newspaper In The World: Newsblogs Video Community - SAM Daily Times Three Strong Steps to Combat Anxiety and Insecurity, 8 Key Questions to Help Ease Your Anxiety or Depression, ADHD: Bottom-Up Triggers of Social Anxiety. How to relieve a tight chest from anxiety? But in trying to make anxiety go away, we further estrange ourselves from the cause of it, and therefore its solution. Sometimes anxiety needs yet another way to grab our attention and does so while we . Join one million Future fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. That's why, when it comes to listening to anxiety, curiosity is our best friend. Knowing that the future was uncertain but that my actions could influence the outcome, my anxiety helped me to function in what otherwise might have felt like a hopeless situation. We're sorry. But not all anxiety is severe, and a moderate amount of anxiety is the sweet spot when it comes to using anxiety to your advantage. Engaging with anxiety is often the key to healing. Leader. Only something so unpleasant can consistently compel us to sit up and pay attention, can effectively demand that we work hard to avoid future danger and chart a more positive course. Over 180 years ago, the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote: "Whosoever learns to be anxious in the right way has learned the ultimate." #3 Personal Growth Often when we're faced with struggles in life, it forces us to grow as a person. Outside of medical diagnoses, the word also seems to have slipped into our vernacular. 4. Head of Sales & Marketing, Island Nook Real Estate. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson, demonstrated that moderate levels of anxiety improve performance in humans and animals: too much anxiety, obviously, impairs performance, but so does too little. But psychologist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary explains why the emotion can be a good thing. However, for many people anxiety can be suffocating, and has become synonymous with feeling bad. Information about the vague futuresomething horrible could happen, but something pleasant could also happenis what causes anxiety. Not only are we more inventive and creative when were stressed, but our brains also function more efficiently and effectively when faced with uncertainty. "[E]motions are tools for survival, forged and refined over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to protect and ensure that humans can thrive. Copyright 2022, PACEsConnection. You have entered an incorrect email address! This is a wonderful offering to the community and would like to share it with some Oooh, great add to a list I've been creating of ways in which "data-driven science and policy" contain underlying biases and flaws. Increased blood pressure Stress and anxiety cause cortisol levels to spike which increases blood pressure and heart rate. 21 Oct 2022 11:17:35 Too often, the mere use of it casts these experiences in a negative light, infusing them with threat and a touch of the not-quite-right. For some people, even thinking about the word "anxiety" gives them anxiety, and the feeling it creates is anything but pleasant. Seek out activities that slow us down and immerse us in the present: read a favourite poem or find solace in music. Hope How long is "limited" if you don't mind me asking. When you feel a negative thought or a worry start creeping in, change your minds course of thoughts. The work of being human is to learn that although anxiety can be hard, sometimes terrifying, we can learn to make it an ally, a benefit, and a source of ingenuity. From "eco-anxiety" to "FOMO", modern life seems a stressful place to be. What if, instead of running out of the house and calling the fire department we just ignored the alarm, or removed the battery, or avoided places in the house where the alarm was loudest. But over the course of the past 150 years, starting with Darwin's The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals, we have actually come to understand that emotions like anger, fear, and anxiety are more advantageous than dangerous. At a time like that, it was hard to focus on those positives, but I learned that I could use my anxiety to keep me energised. At a time like that, it was hard to focus on those positives, but I learned that I could use my anxiety to keep me energised. And bees! Read about our approach to external linking. These benefits can persist for months or even years. This is a great article (and less than a 5 minute read) that looks at anxiety through different lenses, highly recommended! Anxiety helps to boost our focus and drive as we close the gap between where we are now and where we want to be. I believe that anxiety can be a tool to . But psychologist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary explains why the emotion can be a good thing. It's in these moments that we also build the emotional awareness and skills to work through not around our difficult emotions, and to seek support when we need it. While anxiety disorders can be paralysing, the widespread use of the term anxiety to mean a general ill-feeling is problematic because it means we accept two key fallacies: (a) experiencing anxiety is dangerous and destructive; and (b) the solution to its pain is to prevent or eradicate it. And when our beliefs make anxiety worse, we are at greater risk for travelling down the path towards debilitating anxiety and anxiety disorders. BBC Future - When my son was born with a congenital heart condition, like any parent, I felt lost. Philanthropist. Like the opposable thumb and language, emotions are tools for survival, forged and refined over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to protect and ensure that humans can thrive. What other emotion challenges us to be at our best, helps us protect the things that matter most to us, and won't take "no" for an answer? Empowerment Angeli.Aquines-October 22, 2022. Try a steady state workout to build strength and feel powerful | Canadian Running. But psychologist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary explains why the emotion can be a good thing." https://lnkd.in/dMZ9iaaJ Anxiety is waiting for your Covid test to come back positive or negative, or anticipating that difficult conversation with your boss that might go well or might go completely sideways. At its worst, anxiety can feel like a private prison we carry around with us. How to use anxiety to your advantage. There are various types of anxiety medications available. How to Think About X searches for new ideas about our lives, the concepts that govern them and our future. Anxiety is something to harness and leverage because it evolved to help us persist, innovate, socially connect, and remain hopeful in the face of uncertainty so that we can create a better future. Hundreds of millions of people across the world will be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in their lifetime. When we rescue anxiety, we will rescue ourselves. Unlike an infectious disease or cancer, avoidance and suppression of anxiety will almost certainly amplify it, while simultaneously exacting an opportunity cost by preventing us from finding productive ways to cope and to build skills of emotional resilience. Exercise or take a meandering walk. How can you use anxiety to improve performance? But instead of letting it consume your thoughts, you can use anxiety as motivation to overcome your fear, so you can stop being kept awake at night by judgment from other people. Your email address will not be published. Anxiety is anticipating the results of your Covid test, whether good or negative. When we channel our anxiety towards pursuing and prioritising purpose, that's when it becomes courage. Anxiety is on our minds, with good reason. 3. But for anxiety to achieve this, it has to be uncomfortable so that we sit up, pay attention, and listen to what it's telling us. How to use anxiety to your advantage From "eco-anxiety" to "FOMO", modern life seems a stressful place to be. Making this mindset shift has a powerful positive impact. But no matter what the cause, listening to our anxiety believing there is wisdom inherent in what it tells us and that we can use it to our advantage is the very first step in learning to be anxious in the right way. Myth: You can Handle Stress better When You're Younger This is completely untrue. Take research on combat veterans, who reduce their risk of developing PTSD by paying more attention to anxiety-provoking information, rather than distracting from it. BBC Future - Tracy Dennis-Tiwary 7m. How can anxiety levels impact performance? Learning to manage anxiety to work around it and with it could better prepare us for future challenges (Credit: Getty Images/Javier Hirschfeld).
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