Is Your Anxiety Serving a Purpose?

The holiday season brings opportunities for both joy and stress as we prepare our homes, plan travel, and spend time with friends and family. For some, it may be a time of increased anxiety. Dr. Miryam Yusufov shares a few thoughts about anxiety in this post. We hope you’ll find these helpful in making sense of your experience. For regular tips on coping with stress and anxiety, visit our Instagram page @LauraFerrerAssociates.

Anxiety can often feel isolating and painful. At the same time, anxiety serves a function -- a function that has helped our species to survive, collaborate, and thrive. Anxiety has an evolutionary basis that connects all of us. We all have a "stone age" brain that's operating in a modern environment, which often fuels anxiety. That's why anxiety is often understood as the "fight or flight" response that's been activated when you don't actually "need" it.

Next time you're feeling anxious, ask yourself what "function" it's serving beyond the discomfort it's causing. For example, is it arousing you to meet a deadline? Is it keeping you on your toes to perform well socially? 

Take a moment to sift through the ways in which anxiety has been personally adaptive versus maladaptive for you.