Anxiety (angst)
Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness, threat and danger.
It is one of the basic human emotions, together with sadness, anger and joy.
Yet, more than that, it is undoubtedly the most important and most powerful emotion - the one from which all others stem.
From the degree of anxiety you feel in a particular situation, you can gauge how secure you feel with someone or something. We all strive for security, knowing that this is the way to avoid having to feel pain.
Most people have anxiety-related problems from time to time in their life. For about 25 to 35 percent, the problems are so great that they have a (strongly) negative impact in the long or short term.
Anxiety and security
Humans are animals and, as such, seek security from the moment of birth, whether it be safety in numbers or the safety of a third-floor room at the rear where no one ever comes, the safety derived from passing an exam or from following orders.
By listening to your anxiety you can discover where the weak spots in your security system are - where you need to make adjustments.
In practice, however, most people do no such thing. They prefer to veer away from the anxiety and embrace a false sense of security, even though they are subconsciously aware that this does not make sense.
They go on eating binges, bury themselves in their work or career, avoid everything that fuels their fear, deny their emotions, attach themselves to a leader and/or partner, double-check everything or keep dozens of real or mental checklists. Maybe they even seek refuge in a dreamworld of their own making.
Usually, the security thus created is only temporarily effective. After all, there is no such thing as a completely safe existence - no life without pain.
Sooner or later the illusion wears thin and you take a deep, hard dive. No one is immune from problems and pain; no one here gets out alive. Striving for total security or fabricating a world on safe lines is doomed to fail.
Kinds of anxiety
We can distinguish various kinds of anxiety - each arising from, being influenced by and in turn influencing the other.
A mild form of anxiety is the fear of the unknown, also known as fear of failure. Comparable to that is the fear of something concrete, such as repulsion for blood, arachnophobia (fear of spiders) or claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces).
A less tangible form of anxiety is the fear of fear itself: for example, you worry that you will make a mess of that upcoming speech and you are absolutely terrified of the audience's reaction. They're bound to laugh you out of the room, to think that you are a complete idiot.
The most fundamental form of anxiety is the fear of life itself: the fear of what life may bring and the inevitability of death. This is the fear you feel when you realise that, ultimately, you and everyone else is vulnerable and lonely and that you must live your life in spite of everything if you are ever to come to terms with it and find peace. This is an indispensable facet of life that you must eventually accept, even if it scares the hell out of you.
Fear has this nasty habit of taking on a life of its own if you refuse to acknowledge its presence and do something about it. Fear breeds fear, and then more fear. Someone who is a little shy may start avoiding contact with others and, eventually, may lock himself up in his home. Thinking plays a lead role in this process of escalation: we try to entrap fear in logical thought.
Signs of anxiety
Like other emotions, fear is a combination of racing nerves, hormonal secretions and heightened muscular tension. The body overrides thought for a while and reacts directly to whatever is, is coming, or may come. It lets us know what it is that we are experiencing as a threat.
Physical signs of anxiety include: stomach ache, perspiration, shaky legs, heart palpitations, goose pimples, stuttering, headache, stress symptoms and hyperventilation.
Behavioural signs include: avoidance of people and/or situations, speechlessness or jabbering, always meekly doing your best to please, never being able to turn others down, despondency, always being nice and friendly, always wanting to keep everything under control, perfectionism, being unable to deal with anger, and being rigid in your attitude.