Worrywart Life

Is anxiety ever well spent?

This year has been a stress test of what my anxiety is actually good for. Am I at my best when I worry? Or am I just making things harder for myself?

When confronting my fears, I’m forced to separate reasonable fears from ones that are merely amplified in my head.

This cartoon from 2016 illustrates internal negotiations I often have with myself:

Lately, I’ve had to reexamine my relationship to anxiety as well — a milder cousin of fear that is usually hanging around, rent-free.

For example, historically, I have a lot of social anxiety. In person, this might not be obvious because of how outgoing I can appear to be and how much practice I've had outside of my comfort zone. But the anxiety is still there and crops up when I'm pre-gaming social activities, no matter how small. I have strategies for convincing myself that catastrophe won't befall me if I attend an event where other people will be present. Sometimes, it goes well and other times it doesn't. Either way, I survive just the same.

So, I need to ask myself: what does my social anxiety bring to the table?

Not much, actually. If I do an inventory, this might be one worry I can let go of.

Fear and anxiety still have a role in my life, but I’m learning that I can lighten the load by taking the time I need to process things at my own pace. There are plenty of other things to worry about. (Given how much there is, it’s a miracle any of us function!)

Are there any anxieties you can let go of or put down for the time being? I know it’s not always possible, but here’s wishing your burdens lighter.

Hope my conversation with the elephant in this week’s comic strip made you chuckle a little.

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