Anxiety can drive us crazy. It keeps us an up nights. We ruminate and wonder what will happen. We worry about the results of our actions or speech. Sometimes it gets to be too much. This is what we call overwhelming anxiety
But what if I was to tell you that some anxiety is good for us. Yes that’s right: some anxiety is known as adaptive anxiety. It is the good anxiety. It is the type of excitement you feel when you’re anticipating something really cool. It is a type of anxiety you have when you’ve done something great and you’re very excited about it. This is the type of anxiety we want and should enjoy
On the other hand over whelming anxiety to be tough to deal with. John Townsend gives an example of working with an executive with overwhelming anxiety
“I once worked with an executive who felt such great anxiety about meeting with his board that he could hardly speak to them coherently. We had to work on reducing his anxiety from the overwhelming level to the adaptive level. After that, he presented himself well.”1©
When anxiety shuts you down, freezes you or makes you incapable it’s time to get some help. Are you or somebody else in leadership being incapacitated by anxiety? Are people or situations presenting problems that shut down your assertiveness? Don’t go it alone! You will be so relieved when you take care of the anxiety.
1 Townsend, John. The Entitlement Cure: Finding Success in Doing Hard Things the Right Way
Zondervan.
Work Life Clinic by Kit Hill, Ed.D. LMFT 