50 Don’t Let A nxiety Run Your Life
How Anxiety Demands Your Attention
Complex emotions, like anxiety, can be difficult to under-
stand and manage. One way to make sense of your emotions
is to look at their function— that is, the purpose they serve.
This aids in understanding not only how your everyday
emotions can be helpful but also how they can be detrimen-
tal to your daily functioning and well- being. Emotions like
anxiety can serve to direct your attention to relevant facts
and circumstances in the world; however, sometimes this
can get out of hand. Examining this function of your anxiety
can help you improve how you judge and respond to anxiety-
provoking situations— whether at home, at school, or at
work.
Although people often associate anxiety with fear or
dread, anxiety can be a helpful experience that contributes
to intelligence, creativity, performance, and even survival. It
also helps people build mastery or avoid harm. These are all
positive functions of anxiety. If you were scheduled to
perform at a concert recital or compete in an athletic event,
your anxiety would very likely be helpful in terms of moti-
vating you to practice and rehearse so that you could perform
at your very best. Other times, however, depending on how
you judge or react to your anxiety, it can be less helpful or
outright unhelpful. Imagine that you are trying to study for
an important exam. Despite your best efforts, anxious
thoughts— in the form of fears and worries about not passing
the test— intrude and interfere with your concentration and
studying. This anxiety is unhelpful because it interferes with
your overall goal of doing well on the test. This example
illustrates the notion that people who are highly anxious
tend to have difficulty attending to their environment and