Basic Anxiety

I thought that it would behoove to write about basic anxiety. Besides sadness and depression, anxiety is another emotion connected with recessions. We need anxiety and I think that it is important to accept it.

Anxiety according to “Webster” refers to a negative apprehensiveness. In my opinion anxiety is something we share with animals.

Anxiety is an emotion that keeps us safe or motivates us to act for our safety from all perceived threats. Yes, we may run when we are scared and feel like a chicken, but it is better to be a live chicken than a dead duck.

Anxiety is not all negative. Excitement is a form of anxiety in positive situations—like during the big game or getting to meet a celebrity. However, anxiety can be downright vicious in the form of jealousy (anxiety mixed with anger).

Anxiety can be healthy. Guilt is a form of anxiety that we feel when we have done or said something wrong. The physical and emotional symptoms motivate us to make things right.

Anxiety uses adrenalin. It can keep us up at night. It keeps us pacing. It keeps our mind stirring. When we are anxious we cannot stop moving or sit still.

I think that anxiety has been a human characteristic from the beginning of time. While this is not intended to be a religious letter, Jesus Christ talked repeatedly about anxiety and how to have peace. For those who are not Christians, other faiths have something to say about anxiety—people have used their faith to cope with anxiety throughout history.

Anyway, throughout my life, there has always been something to be anxious about. For the first 25 years of my life, we were anxious about the “Cold War.” Up through 1973, there was the Vietnam War. Russia and the United States had more than enough nuclear weapons to wipe out each other. It was something of a relief to see communism in Europe end.

Since 2001 the United States and European counties have been anxious about militant Muslim extremists—especially Al Qaeda and its activities. (It is practically the crusades all over again).

Now, on top of “the war on terrorism” gasoline is now at more than four dollars a gallon where I live and that is causing inflation on top of recessionary conditions. Will we have money to pay our bills? Will we have jobs? Will we being paralyzed in our sprawled cities where there is no bus service to take us to our jobs in another part of the metropolitan area? Will gas go further up to $7.00 per gallon? The list of possible anxieties can go on and on and on.

Many people put on a facade or front that they are not scared, but people get scared with all these things. I think that it is natural that all of these things incite anxiety.

We compound our anxiety when we obsess on our anxieties (national, world, and personal). Obsessing is going to lead to the sleepless nights, stomach pains, headaches, chest pains, and panic attacks. (Although when people are having panic attacks there is more than one cause.)

The concept that I think is applicable in this case of recession is “circle of control.” You and I alone by our own solitary actions are NOT going to change the world or the recessionary conditions. We can only take care of ourselves. Hopefully in time with a large enough people taking care of themselves, the economic situation with right itself as it usually has.

Now to be real about anxiety . . . feeling it is terrible. You not only can have non-stop thoughts that you cannot seem to shake, but your muscles get tight, and you may not feel hungry. Or you may feel empty and eat to feel full and satisfied—thus the concepts of “comfort food” and “stress eating.” You may get a headache.

If the thoughts continue, you can begin to paint yourself into a corner and begin to believe that the worst is going to happen and that you are going to be a total failure. That is black and white thinking coming back into play. Black and white thinking about small things makes them seem like they are the only things in the world.

Alcohol consumption seems to go up in recessions (or so I have heard). This happens, while it is an easy go-to-coping tool, it is not a healthy way of dealing with anxiety. Alcohol and other substances merely are mood-altering substances whose effects wear off and do not make your problem go away. In fact, one using one or both may find themselves with another problem called addiction.

If you are having panic attacks and are having high levels of anxiety, this is where professional help is needed. Seeing your doctor (if you can get into a psychiatrist—that is preferred), going to a therapist, getting assessed at your local psychiatric hospital, going to a support group are all good interventions to help with anxiety. One other cheap and easy way is to browse the Internet for coping websites (My personal favorite is http://www.coping.org/ and no they are not paying for this recommendation--it is just that good of a website and it is free to access). In the short term, hot baths and lots of deep breathing are the cheap (and sometimes the most helpful) interventions that most people can do.

There is no easy way to close this entry. I think that the best thing to say is that anxiety is normal, and it is not the end of your world if you have anxiety over the world situation. Naming and accepting it are the first steps to coping (and going somewhere for some help is good too if you really feel that you are at the end of your rope). Most of our families have not held this belief or imparted it to us, and so it can appear rather unappealing.

I think accepting that you are anxious is one way to begin reducing it. Denial or trying to stuff it only makes it worse. Telling yourself that it is stupid for you to be anxious is only going to make you more anxious as it puts pressure on you to be more than human. (You can only be human.)
Accepting anxiety usually leads to one to give oneself permission to start doing something to reduce it.

It is NOT stupid to be anxious over world events. It is what we do as humans.