I wrote this article and didn't finish it in 2013, and it has been sitting in my 'draft' folder all this time. Fast forward to 2018, and realizing, I'm back in this state of mind. What's new?
Having bouts of existential angst? Kiekergaard's Concept of Anxiety talks about anxiety as dizziness, a kind of overwhelmed altered state. While this may be true,
Kiekergaard also state that anxiety is different from fear because anxiety is linked to the concept of freedom and the so-called infinite possibilities of possibility. He continues to add that anxiety is essential to creativity, a connection thought of by Rollo May. But perhaps looking at a simplified concept of anxiety, it is as any emotion is a bell curve, the beginning of anxiety is when you are hyperactively excited, energetic and in high spirit, then it hits a certain 'tipping point' where it will curve back down to emotions that are more aptly connected to the word we understand. Anxiety has a negative connotation as it seems to project emotions that relates to lack, and the feeling of out of control.
If this is you, or if you can see yourself in some kind of an altered state that comes and goes. Perhaps lets look at all these theories in a positive light. Anxiety is overused in psychotherapy and is not a word usually linked to a positive outcome, but if just for a moment we consider the idea of anxiety as having too many choices, too many possibilities and the problem is how to choose what you truly want (let us not confused this with what is right!). Sometimes our choices seems right but the result might be the opposite, however that is not necessarily the 'wrong' choices, an alternative thought is that it might be a process of learning that is often forgotten. A process of learning or discovering something new involves a bunch of failures, does it not? So if anxiety is then related to this process of learning, our anxiety of failure is a necessity if we want to grow, learn, and become a fully realised human being.
A fully realised human being is in my opinion someone who accepts that failure sometimes happen, perhaps expects the process of life to be bumpy and challenging, expecting success but realised that failure is part of that success.
Another interesting and perhaps a more accurate description of a fully realized human being is someone who lives whole heartedly, as Brene Brown's theory of Vunerability strongly points at.
Kiekergaard also state that anxiety is different from fear because anxiety is linked to the concept of freedom and the so-called infinite possibilities of possibility. He continues to add that anxiety is essential to creativity, a connection thought of by Rollo May. But perhaps looking at a simplified concept of anxiety, it is as any emotion is a bell curve, the beginning of anxiety is when you are hyperactively excited, energetic and in high spirit, then it hits a certain 'tipping point' where it will curve back down to emotions that are more aptly connected to the word we understand. Anxiety has a negative connotation as it seems to project emotions that relates to lack, and the feeling of out of control.
If this is you, or if you can see yourself in some kind of an altered state that comes and goes. Perhaps lets look at all these theories in a positive light. Anxiety is overused in psychotherapy and is not a word usually linked to a positive outcome, but if just for a moment we consider the idea of anxiety as having too many choices, too many possibilities and the problem is how to choose what you truly want (let us not confused this with what is right!). Sometimes our choices seems right but the result might be the opposite, however that is not necessarily the 'wrong' choices, an alternative thought is that it might be a process of learning that is often forgotten. A process of learning or discovering something new involves a bunch of failures, does it not? So if anxiety is then related to this process of learning, our anxiety of failure is a necessity if we want to grow, learn, and become a fully realised human being.
A fully realised human being is in my opinion someone who accepts that failure sometimes happen, perhaps expects the process of life to be bumpy and challenging, expecting success but realised that failure is part of that success.
Another interesting and perhaps a more accurate description of a fully realized human being is someone who lives whole heartedly, as Brene Brown's theory of Vunerability strongly points at.
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