Where Anxiety Comes From
Are you anxious about certain things, but have been unable to identify where this anxiety comes from? Me too!
Till I found these insightful tweets:
Let’s unpack this: You feel anxious about something if three conditions are met:
It has happened to you in the past. For example, an aunt of mine feels anxious when she’s walking on the road at night and headlights of an oncoming car shine in her face. When I asked her why, she told me that she once met with a major accident under these circumstances. On the other hand, I don’t feel nervous in this scenario, since I didn’t meet with a major accident. So, the first condition to feel anxious about something is that it has happened to you in the past.
It can happen again. For example, as a student, I was threatened with expulsion from college, but I don’t feel nervous about it anymore because that can no longer happen to me, since I’m well into my working years. On the other hand, a former client of mine threatened to end my contract, and I feel nervous about it since it can happen again.
You know you can’t handle it if it happens again. In the consulting example, if my current client decides to end my contract, it’s not within my power to prevent from happening.
Memories that haven’t been fully processed will linger and trouble you, just as food that couldn’t be digested will linger and cause nausea.
Our ancestors would constantly scan the grasslands around them, and an unknown, like rustling of leaves without a visible goat (say), might be a tiger, so they better be on their guard. This evolutionary trait has helped us survive. Similarly, in modern times, we’re scanning our environment, say our office environment, to see what unknowns lurk that might threaten us. The threat is different from being gobbled up by a tiger, but our mind responds with the same primal emotions like anxiety.
