Anxiety vs. Activity in the Church
I have felt anxious about tests, job interviews, parent/teacher conferences, going to the bedside of very ill family, driving in bad weather, even going to lunch with friends. This event-related, temporary anxiety is beneficial. It has helped me focus on the task at hand, avoid dangerous situations, recognize others’ needs, prepare well for presentations, ask for help, and be motivated to act in ways that minimize unpleasant consequences. Anxiousness turns into a medical problem “when it extends beyond logical worry in an unreasonable, unwarranted, uncontrollable way. Situations that should elicit no negative emotions all of a sudden seem life-threatening or crushingly embarrassing .” A nxiousness becomes a mental disorder if hangs around after the test, interview, conference, visit, weather, or lunch is over. Like winter snowstorms, anxiety can accumulate as snowflakes, piling anxiety upon anxiety until there is no place to shovel it away to clear an em...