Pop-psych articles often talk of strategies to reduce or outright eliminate our anxieties altogether. They’ll say to be hyper-vigilant and give typical advice, and let’s face it, in 2021, we could all benefit from some anxiety reducing techniques every now and then. 

But on the other hand, directing our awareness towards our fears can often help us make effective decisions. In this way, anxiety can serve a purpose, it causes us to take steps and do the right thing. 

Rather than try to be happy all the time and never anxious, we should think of our anxiety level as a thermometer, and try to calibrate it properly. Too hot and we can be paralyzed with fear. Too cold, and we can get “stuck” and not take meaningful action. 

If a feeling is impacting social functioning for example, or if it’s leading to risky and/or unsafe behavior, then those are signs of functional interference. But we don’t need to be “fixing” every single feeling that we feel. 

They key takeaway --- if we try to really understand our feelings and why they’re there, we can learn a lot about ourselves.

Related reading:

Anxiety Free: Unravel Your Fears Before They Unravel You

By Robert L. Leahy Hay House; 2nd edition. 2010.