Today, nearly a third of adults have experienced heightened levels of anxiety at some point in their lives. Anxiety can have both negative and positive effects. It is determined both by frequently changing external factors and by increased expectations and demands from life.
Anxiety is caused by both internal and external factors
Increased anxiety is like a consuming fire. It can create strong aspirations and high levels of vigor. It makes the person exert more effort to neutralize its effect, making it more active. High anxiety can also occur when we have strong desires that we worry about whether they can come true, when we think excessively or when we realize unfavorable things for us, when we have more failures than successes in life, when we cannot accept some circumstances.
Positives and Negatives
A certain amount of anxiety is necessary for us to be sober-minded and adequate. Many of the most successful people in various fields have suffered from anxiety. It can be an inner energy that gives us stimulation and purpose. Famous people such as Mark Twain, Jim Carrey, Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Adele and many others share that they suffered from panic attacks and increased impact of anxiety. The examples show that it is involved in unlocking and raising creative potential. Perhaps, in these cases, it appears as a rising deep energy from the bowels of the soul that wants to manifest itself under some creativity. The power of this energy can be difficult to control, which can be one of the prerequisites that build the feeling of anxiety. Anxiety makes the mind restless, which keeps it constantly working. Ultimately, this can lead to both genius works and stressful burnout. That’s why many great artists use alcohol or other drugs to calm their minds. Sometimes, through them, they just want to make it stop working.
What stimulates the escalation of anxiety
The impact of anxiety is also increased by the ever-increasing demands in society. Many are unable to meet these demands, and this leads to isolation and panic. We worry when things are out of our control and when we lack faith and self-confidence. Excessive anxiety is also generated by our thought pattern of exaggerating the importance of potential threats or unpleasant situations. Worry comes from thinking we won’t be strong enough to bear or handle anxiety. Accepting what is happening to us, or what may happen, is an important way to manage anxiety.
The paradox of anxiety is that the more we try to control it, the worse it gets. We try to control anxiety through avoidance. This includes paying close attention to anxiety signals, avoiding all situations that may trigger anxiety, enlisting others to help us stay safe, avoiding anxiety-provoking situations. Refocusing our attention on the things that worry us feeds and increases the power of anxious thoughts. The initial anxious thoughts give birth to similar thoughts, and thus a vicious cycle occurs. So sometimes we just have to act without thinking to avoid anxiety. The mistakes we will make in this way are fewer than the mistakes caused by blocking the impact of anxiety. Deep breathing, with an emphasis on longer exhalations, also relieves anxiety. Another effective means is to exercise with an emphasis on cardio.
The biggest generator of anxiety is the type thinking that makes a fly an elephant (over exaggerating issues). When we look at our problems through a magnifying glass, we greatly magnify their impact on us. The distorted prism of the magnifying glass are our fears that we have nurtured to the level of giant demons. These fears cause us to wallow in problems instead of solving them. But the more difficult, painful and unpleasant situations we go through, the more our anxiety decreases. They build the best immunity against it.
