At its worst, anxiety can make it impossible to do anything. You end up trapped by your fears, some of them irrational, unable to make decisions or take part in activities that you might even enjoy. Daily life becomes impossible.
There’s another side to anxiety, though, and that’s as fuel and motivation. If you harness it right, it can be a powerful way to push yourself forward. The obvious example is when you have a deadline looming and you find that assignment that previously looked impossible suddenly thrown into sharp focus.
People have different ways of reacting to stress. Some freeze up and can’t do anything. Some run away. Some get ready to fight. One part of managing anxiety is learning to recognize your own responses so you can adjust or redirect them when necessary. What works for you won’t necessarily be the same as anyone else.
That’s important because everyone feels anxiety sometimes. It doesn’t always rise to the level of a clinical diagnosis, but it can still cause significant damage to your attempts to live your life. If you want to use your anxiety as motivation, you need to know what’s causing it and be aware of exactly how you’re feeling.
This kind of self-awareness can take a lot of effort, but some people seem to manage it pretty naturally. We’ve all known someone who works at their best when under pressure. Perhaps you’re even one of those people yourself, or maybe you’re someone who watches the stressed person becoming even more efficient and wonders how they manage it.
If you do find a way to turn stress into motivation, it doesn’t just mean better outcomes in the immediate moment. It’s about more than test scores or a successful presentation on the big day. It can impact your overall levels of satisfaction at both work and life. That means it’s well worth challenging yourself over your anxiety.
Of course, this isn’t going to work for everyone. If your anxiety does reach the level of a clinical diagnosis, it’s probably going to take more than your self-awareness or introspection to fix it. You might need help from a doctor or a therapist. Medication can help make symptoms manageable, while something like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can teach you new ways of thinking about your anxiety.
