5 ways Anxiety Helps Us Make Choices (but not necessarily the right ones!)
Anxiety is regularly used to guide people to make certain choices.
Anxiety can be healthy when it helps keep us safe. It is important to remember that it can be a positive driver for change and motivation.
However it can prompt us to make poor choices or interfere with our lives if we do not stand back and remain consciously aware that we may be on the receiving end of being manipulated.
- Think about political elections….person A wanting our vote may magnify our anxiety about might happen if person B gets into power. The difficulty is that this anxiety can become harmful when person B is subsequently elected and we are finding it impossible to accept what we cannot change.
- Professionals, including doctors use anxiety to prompt their patients and clients to adopt healthy lifestyles. “If you don’t change your habits and behaviours….this is the likely cost…..”
- In education, families and the legal system, there are rules, regulations and expectations with a sliding scale of consequences if these are not adhered to.
- Driving instructors use anxiety to instil careful driving habits. “If you don’t wear your seatbelts, you can be thrown out of the car and killed as a result of a collision.”
- Sometimes anxiety is used to encourage us to make choices that may not be in our best interests…to buy something we don’t need for example. This may even be via a fear of missing out (FOMO).
- Peer pressure is often applied through anxiety. "If you don’t do this, we won’t be friends with you anymore"
To make good choices, remember that anxiety is healthy when it helps keep us safe, but before you buy that new gadget that promises that you will never work hard again…..remember to stand back and see the whole picture first!
Back to News
