Читать книгу Modern Anxiety, Modern Woman - Lida Prypchan - Страница 3

Very few people free themselves from anxiety. At least Siegfried, the hero of The Ring of the Nibelungen, was born completely free from anxiety. But it was a rare privilege. Worries are the historical baggage of humankind.

As typical examples we have the company director who observes that another takes over his position because he is younger or the student who nervously counts the days until an exam that is crucial for his future. As can be seen, anxiety in itself is not abnormal; it is simply an all-embracing response by our personality when facing situations that threaten us. Subjectively, it is characterized by a state of uncertainty, apprehension, tension and helplessness when facing a threat that we perceive in a vague and imprecise form.

It is not necessary to think that everything about anxiety is negative - because in some cases, and depending on the person, it becomes a prod that drives us to attain something that really matters to us. Anguish becomes irrational, however, when we exaggerate the response, that is, when in all or in the majority of our activities we allow it to destroy our thoughts - here the matter is complicated as this extreme anxiety could easily lead us to depression or even to suicide.

... we allow it to destroy our thoughts ...

As to its origin - it has been demonstrated that anxiety has genetic roots, but to a larger extent the environment in which the individual operates influences this. That is why today’s society with its excess population, traffic, crowding, neurosis and the struggle to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ produces excessive stress on its inhabitants.