This is probably obvious but I thought I’d mention anyway.
I think I realised something the other day which is an obvious difference between “good” or “helpful”, and “bad” or “unhelpful” anxiety.
It occurred to me while driving behind a slow vehicle and an opportunity presented itself to overtake safely. I get a kind of “butterflies” feeling, a bit nervous about driving on the other side of the road. I assume this is useful anxiety: my body telling me to make doubly sure it is safe, check again, etc.
The initial “butterflies” in this situation started off quite prominently years ago and I have found they get less and less over time. Presumably each time I safely overtake I learn there’s little to worry about.
Now I may be making this up as I’ve not otherwise experienced “good” anxiety for a long time, but I am guessing this is the same as the “good” anxiety that you are meant to get before doing something like speaking publicly or attending a job interview. People say this anxiety also gets less the more you do the thing that causes it.
If I compare this anxiety to the usual problem anxiety I get, I would describe my normal anxiety as a stagnant pool in my stomach; unhelpful, pointless anxiety that is there for no good reason.
What I want to point out is that this unhelpful anxiety doesn’t diminish after each time I experience it, it stays constant. I can do things that set it off as many times as I want and still am just as anxious as the first time.
I don’t really know why I am mentioning all this but I just thought it was interesting to identify good anxiety for once, it is actually quite a nice feeling in comparison to my day-to-day anxiety.
I wonder if this is worth mentioning to my doctor. Or perhaps is there a way to convert “bad/unhelpful” anxiety into “good/helpful” anxiety. That way I could work on it and hopefully get it to disappear over time.
