Anxiety isn't the problem; directionless anxiety is. A woman named Georgia stayed calm during a hotel robbery and saved her mother's life, while social anxiety can freeze you over nothing. The speaker argues anxiety is a survival system that needs leadership to channel its energy into action instead of paralysis.
Chapters
Anxiety is not a bad thing. Anxiety is not a bad thing. It just needs leadership. Now, I know for some people that might be quite a hard thing to swallow. So I'm going to tell you a story about a client of mine. Her name's Georgia. And she certainly wouldn't have swallowed at the time that line, anxiety is not a bad thing. She was on holiday with her mum, and 3:23 is a time that she will never forget. It was hot, she was lying awake, so as the hotel room door started to open, she could see the time on that clock. And her life changed. Because there, standing with his huge frame filling the doorway, was a massive man. The tiny bit of light that escaped into the room glinted off something metal. He had a gun. Just think for a moment, if you were in that situation, how would you have reacted? I would have run. Georgia's mum froze, but Georgia got out of bed, walked over, opened the safe, and stepped back. The gunman reached in, took the money, sauntered off. I'm as sure as I can be that Georgia's behaviour that night saved both of their lives. So we have exactly the same situation, life-threatening risk. One person froze, one person had control. We had little Munchkin down here. She wasn't facing life-threatening risk. She was worrying about her friends being fed up with her. But she froze too. I'm not afraid of heights. So what's going on? In all of these situations, the response is what we call the fight-or-flight response. Actually, there's another element: the fight, flight, or freeze. And the role of that fight, flight, or freeze response is survival. Without anxiety, you would be dead. Anxiety is what stops us putting our hand on things that are hot. Anxiety is what stops us driving through red traffic lights. Anxiety is what stops Michael doing cartwheels. Anxiety keeps us safe because he's already said if he tried it, he would probably hurt himself. Yeah? So anxiety is not a bad thing. We just need to give it leadership. Thank you.
