By Donna Hruska

Of course, you want to avoid anxiety. Or do you?

Every businessman has known a salesman like John Carpenter, who became anxious when he fell into a sales slump. The more he worried, the fewer sales he made, until he began to feel that he had lost his ability to sell anybody anything. His anxiety had almost immobilized him. Yet, had John known how to take advantage of the extraordinary energy produced by his anxiety, he could have gone right to the top of the sales roster, for anxiety can be one of the most positive forces in our lives if we understand how it works and how to use it.

Anxiety is a general sense of tension or unease about an impending disaster over which we have little or no control. It, and its close relative, fear, are part of our emergency mobilization system. These twin emotions differ mostly in how specific the danger involved is—that is, John

Carpenter may be anxious about his financial condition, but he may fear losing his job. His son, John Jr., may be anxious about his grades, but he may fear flunking the math test on Monday.

For primitive man, anxiety and fear made the difference between survival and extinction. When one of our ancestors sensed danger, adrenaline pumped into his blood stream, bringing on a rise in blood pressure, a quickened heartbeat and faster breathing. His body became ready for fight or flight. At the same time, all the body systems unnecessary for fight or flight, such as digestion or sexual desire, were suppressed. All of primitive man’s energy was mobilized for survival.

Our reaction to anxiety or fear today is not physically much different from our ancestors’. A sense of danger still starts the adrenaline flowing, the heart beating, the breath quickening. Our unneeded body functions are suppressed, which explains why Mrs. Carpenter gets indigestion when John Jr. fails to report home by curfew or why John Sr. with his crucial financial problem is not the passionate lover his wife married.

Problems arise because modern homo sapiens no longer has to fight off the invader from the next cave or flee the wild predatory beast. Danger for man today is more complicated and more subtle and therefore requires a more sophisticated version of fight or flight. In fact, the urge to fight or flee must usually be denied.

Too much adrenaline pumping through the system, too much energy that is built up for combating problems but never used, is hard on the human body. Over a long period of time it is damaging, leading to ulcers, nervous tension and heart disease. That is why unresolved anxiety is bad. Worry should lead to action.

We live in the most anxiety-ridden age in history. Over 10 million Americans suffer from anxiety neurosis, an acute and chronic illness characterized by severe anxiety attacks that come on without any apparently appropriate reason. People who suffer from anxiety neurosis are actually physically ill. Even those of us whose worries have not reached the acute state occasionally find our anxiety interfering with our effectiveness in our day to day life, for a worried person finds himself unable to concentrate, make decisions or think clearly. The unused energy generated by anxiety can make us so jittery and uneasy that it is next to impossible to accomplish anything.

Instead of being immobilized by his anxiety over his sales slump, John Carpenter could have handled this excess energy in one of two ways. He could have drugged himself with tranquilizers, but this would have throttled not only his worries but his active and creative abilities as well, or he could have learned to control his anxieties and use the energy they generate.

After all, if we had no anxieties, we would accomplish nothing. The man who was not anxious about keeping his family from starvation would work only enough to keep himself alive and comfortable. The woman who was not concerned to provide her husband and children with a pleasant home would sit in the middle of the mess and drink coffee.

Because it brings extraordinary energy to bear, anxiety is even artificially induced under some circumstances. Athletes sometimes dwell on an anxiety-producing situation before a contest to wind themselves up for competition. Directors often harass and goad actors to get unusually good performances. The old-fashioned “give ’em hell” type of sales meeting in high-pressure sales organizations is designed to do the same thing—get the juices going so the individual can give his best performance.

Anxiety is uncomfortable. An anxious person is nervous and apprehensive. He may either lose his appetite or overeat, be unable to sleep or to stay awake. He may suffer from any number of physical manifestations—palpitations, fatigue, breathlessness, chest pain, sighing, headache and dizziness. Little wonder then, that it drives us to do something constructive, to reach a decision.

Because unrelieved anxiety has become so widespread in the United States, psychologists and social scientists have been putting our anxieties under their microscopes and have made some interesting discoveries. They have found that it can help us to be more sensitive and aware and to be prepared for whatever life brings. Doctors at Yale found that patients who were not worried before an operation were less able to handle stress after surgery. The anxious patients had rehearsed mentally what they would do and were therefore more prepared for anything that happened.

Men worry more about their work and less about petty concerns than their spouses. Women tend to worry more and about everything from the high price of beef to the wrinkles between their eyebrows, probably because the housewife’s role demands less psychic energy than she generates.

A leading woman’s magazine recently surveyed its readers to find out what worried them most. Without exception, their major anxieties concerned their families, their personal appearance and their personal failures, all highly subjective concerns. Leaders of worry clinics for women that have sprung up over the country in the last few years have discovered that the most anxious women are the mothers of teenagers; the least worried are those over 50. They found that, although men have as many concerns as women, they are less likely to seek help in a worry clinic, probably because they feel their anxieties are more specific and less likely to be helped by sharing with others. They are also no doubt influenced by the fact that in our culture men are supposed to be self-sufficient.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have found that the form of acute anxiety called variously anxiety neurosis, Da Costa’s syndrome or neurocirculatory asthenia, is, in fact, an illness which has a biological basis, seems to run in families and can probably be treated by new drugs now being developed.

Most of us will never experience anxiety this extreme. Our worries will be less severe, although at the time, they will seem neither temporary nor trivial. How can we overcome the disabling effects of worry and turn our anxiety into an asset instead of a liability?

FIRST, find the cause of your anxiety. Be honest. The woman whose ageing husband shows less sexual interest may believe she is anxious about his health, while actually her real anxiety stems from doubts about her own attractiveness. You can’t do anything about your problem until it is precisely identified.

SECOND, try to back off and look at your worries from some distance. Is it a problem that will automatically vanish in a short time? Will you even remember it a year from now? There is no point in worrying about whether it will rain on next Saturday’s company picnic. Either it will or it won’t. Find an alternate indoor site, instead. If encroaching age makes you feel less fit and attractive, start jogging or have your hair styled.

This might be a good time to make an overall plan for your life. If you have specific goals to accomplish, you will find it easier and less worrisome to make the right decisions.

FOURTH, talk it over with someone you can trust—your wife, your clergyman, your closest friend. Sometimes this is all that is needed to put your problem in perspective.

FIFTH, look around you at others in similar circumstances. If the high cost of living threatens your retirement, talk it over with your neighbor. He may have found a remedy. See how others have handled similar problems and survived.

SIXTH, and most important, use that energy. It exists to help you fight the cause of your worry. Take advantage of it, not only to combat your current problem, but to get ahead in other areas of your life as well. Wallowing in self-pity is destructive. If there is nothing you can do about your specific problem, take up a new interest or do some volunteer work and watch your anxieties shrink when you see what serious problems others have to face.

SEVENTH, don’t overlook the emotional strength that comes from religious faith or a positive philosophy of life. The religious person has the advantage of being able to lay his deepest fears in the lap of a higher being. Just believing that events always work out for the best often influences the final result in a positive way.

EIGHTH, when none of the above gives relief, seek professional help. You may have a physical problem. Your family doctor or mental health clinic is prepared to help you with deep-rooted problems.

FINALLY, don’t worry about worrying. You live in a stressful society and if you did not react to it you would be an unfeeling vegetable. Worrying shows that you care and are probably a very warm-hearted and pleasant person to know. Learning to handle your anxieties will make you a more efficient and productive person as well.

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Correspondence:

July 16, 1970

Donna Hruska
2711 2nd Private Road
Flossmoor, Illinois 60422

Dear Mrs. Hruska:

Thank you for your letter of July 14, and for your query regarding a proposed article entitled “Learn How To Be Anxious”.

Yes, we would be happy to take a speculative look at this article. We suggest that you define it well, of course, but be specific in your proposals for actually using anxiety profitably.

We will look forward to hearing from you soon, and wish you the best for continued unlimited success!

Sincerely,
George E. Donlin
Associate Editor
SUCCESS UNLIMITED

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July 14, 1970

Mr. Og Mandino, Executive Editor
SUCCESS UNLIMITED
6355 Broadway
Chicago, Illinois 60626

Dear Mr. Mandino,

I certainly hope you haven’t written any books on anxiety lately. (You may remember that my last submission was “Early Bird or Owl?” on the subject of mood cycles.) I’d like to interest you in a proposed article titled “Learn How To Be Anxious.”

Most of us think of anxiety as a negative emotion, but it can be a positive force in our lives if we learn how to use it. The article would explain the physical and emotional effects of anxiety, including the results of recent research on the subject and would conclude with a list of suggestions as to how to turn your anxiety from a liability to an asset.

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Donna Hruska
2711 2nd Private Road
Flossmoor, Illinois 60422

Published Credits:
The Chicago Tribune
Catholic Rural Life
St. Joseph Magazine
The New World
Life Insurance Selling