Anxiety is so easy. All one has to do is stop for a moment and just ponder about potential situations, and anxiety is right there to help out. It is so easy to think about everything that could go wrong in a given moment, whether it be this moment in the present or one in the future. It could also be everything that will go wrong because of something that already happened.
Anxiety is too much weight and consequence given to imagination. With less weight, it becomes an ability to plan for contingencies and prepare for possible hardships. This is most likely where anxiety originated from; an emotion to help us plan for potential dangers in the wild. We were much more limited in what was possible for us to achieve back then. As a result of our incredible progress as a species, we now find ourselves in a position of near limitless possibilities for what we can achieve, but with that comes a near limitless number of possible dangers.
We all live within the context of our own lives. Sometimes the biggest threat that we can perceive is not doing well on the next big test or assignment. For me, anxiety likes to come over when I am preparing for a date. We have a tendency to believe that whatever the worst case scenario is, that will probably be what happens. Reality usually is not as bad as we anticipate. Nonetheless, in moments like these, I find it helpful to ask myself what might happen if that worst-case scenario actually does come to pass. The answer is usually something along the lines of “yeah that would suck, but I suppose it would not be the end of my world.” Putting the moment into context, realizing that the moment in question might be a bad one, but I can and will still continue on afterwards, helps me calm down. The next time you’re anxious, perhaps you will ask yourself that same question. You might be surprised with your answer.