Can Anxiety be a Good Thing?
Last year I wrote a post challenging the idea that anxiety is all bad. Now, I’m finding more people talking about how feelings of anxiety can be beneficial, including neuroscientist Dr. Wendy Suzuki, author of Good Anxiety: Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion (November 2021).
Suzuki begins by reminding us that anxiety is a normal emotion that alerts us to potential danger. The energy in our bodies that we often label “bad” may actually have the power to steer us down a healthy path.
Suzuki differentiates good anxiety from bad anxiety. She describes good anxiety as a warning system that helps us to take timely, appropriate action and then dissipates once that action has been taken. Anxiety is part of our basic survival mechanism; the thoughts and physical reactions that come from conditional anxiety can lead us to protect ourselves. Anxiety might, for example, be telling us that we are working too hard today and need to take a break.
Conversely, bad anxiety is the type that causes chronic stress. The worries that we can’t seem to shake can ultimately negatively impact our physical health and mental well-being.
Working with your anxiety
To turn bad anxiety into good, we must learn how to work with our anxiety instead of against it — in other words, we have to acknowledge it and respond to it rather than hoping it will just go away. We can pause to assess our anxiety and act productively instead of trying to forget why we might be feeling anxious.
Wanting to ignore things that are unpleasant or uncomfortable is a normal human reaction; it takes a lot of strength to tolerate anxiety. However, challenging the initial instinct to ignore our fears can serve a purpose. Suzuki explains, “If we simply approach [anxiety] as something to avoid, get rid of, or dampen, we not only don’t solve the problem but actually miss an opportunity to leverage the generative power of anxiety.”
Listening to anxiety can lead to a more enriched life; we can find the courage to manage a potential risk or rise to the challenge of doing something scary but important.
Like many others, Suzuki suggests breath work as well as movement (extra points for getting outside) to manage anxiety. She reminds us that these exercises don’t have to be engaged in for long periods — even a few moments can be helpful.
Though these activities may sound overly simple, focusing on what we can do to take care of ourselves in the moment is much more effective than avoidance or stewing in distress.
I appreciate how her viewpoints align with the principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. In this paradigm, “A” stands for “accepting without judgment.” This includes accepting our thoughts and feelings (anxiety) as well as all the other things that aren’t within our control. “C” stands for “connecting with our core values,” or what matters most in our lives so that we come back to our center. And, best for last, “T” means “taking effective action,” even when it feels hard.
In conclusion, we don’t have to feel stuck in anxiety. Nor does anxiety always have to be a problem — it can positively impact our lives if we can learn to work with it instead of against it. In fact, healthy anxiety can help to push us toward meaningful action and greatly improve our overall well-being.
