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The Benefits of Having Anxiety

Believe it or not, there are actually several beneficial character traits which a person can develop as a result of their anxiety and they can use these personality traits to their advantage. Several of the personality traits which shall be detailed within this article can be employed to allow a person to become a valuable asset at work and in personal relationships.

However, an even more useful reason to identify the positive aspects of having anxiety is to help a person overcome the condition.

It's incredibly difficult to overcome anxiety as the condition itself can cause a person to become extremely negative, both about their prospects and themselves as a person. Furthermore, anxiety is an extremely cyclical condition and many anxiety sufferers (after their first attack) simply become anxious about being anxious.

This is because they recognize and focus on the widely published, both online and in-print, negative connotations which partner the condition. Evidently, it's imperative that anxiety sufferers are given the opportunity to identify and focus on any positive aspects of the condition, so that they can retain a positive mindset during their recovery from the condition. This is all part of a process to help develop a positive mental attitude (P.M.A.) which will encourage self-esteem growth, positivity and become a valuable aid during the recover process.

Below I will discuss the character traits an anxious person might develop, as well as explain why said traits can have a positive influence in the everyday life of a sufferer. Identification and emphasis on these character traits will help to reduce the stress and pressure of being an anxiety sufferer and allow a sufferer to employ the aforementioned character traits to improve the quality of their life.

Conscientious

By it's very nature, anxiety is a condition which renders the sufferer extremely conscientious. A sufferer will display much greater angst over everyday concerns - such as being late for work or not completing a project - than a non-anxiety sufferer. The generation of this angst ensures a sufferer will be punctual, resilient and extremely determined to complete any given tasks both on time and to a high standard as this will ease their anxious feelings and leave them with a much desired sense of accomplishment. Thus people with anxiety can become valuable commodities to a company and achieve great success in their field because of the angst which drives them to succeed and satisfy any requests given.

Observational

As many people with anxiety fret about the opinion and judgment of their peers, many sufferers will strive to gain approval which can lead to a heightened level observational skill. A prominent method employed by anxiety sufferers to gain the approval of their peers - as well as to detract attention from their own anxiety - is to offer compliments. This can build a person's observational skill as they begin to recognize subtle changes in the people around them. Having suffered from anxiety myself, and having known a community of anxiety sufferers, I feel confident enough to state that anxiety sufferers will be the first to recognize if a person has a new haircut or is wearing a new pair of shoes. I theorize that this heightened observational skill develops because the sufferer constantly seeks out a way to complement a person in order to gain their friendship and trust and as such constantly watches for physical characteristics to praise. Eventually a person begins to simply notice these little physical features and minute changes subconsciously, allowing them a higher sense of observational skill which can lead to a strong rapport with co-workers, deeper friendships and happier relationships.

Safety

Anxiety is a reaction generated by your brain to a perceived (often non-existent) sense of danger. Basically, during an anxiety attack a person's brain is activating their fight-vs-flight response and inducing a feeling of intense panic so that they remove themselves from the danger - which can of course be problematic in everyday life. However, it is important to note that, whilst this perceived danger is often non-existent, an anxiety sufferer is extremely in tune with the environment around them and thus when danger is present an anxiety sufferer will be much more aware of this and as such will be able to quickly identify the most productive way to remain safe. This can be an incredible benefit in a person's personal life as it allows them to ensure their family and/or friends avoid danger and stay safe.

Self-Awareness

Now most anxiety sufferers have low self-esteem, and consequently they're normally very self aware and extremely conscious of what they say to others. This is a highly underrated skill. It is often recommended to people that they "think before you speak" so that people don't say inappropriate comments which they might regret later; however, because an anxiety sufferer has a high level of self-awareness and an intense desire to gain approval, many sufferers select their words carefully. This allows anxiety sufferers to fit in to almost any social or professional situation because they're reliable and trustworthy to maintain the correct level of respect in said situations. Following on, another extremely underrated quality is the ability to be self-aware. Anxiety sufferers recognize their weaknesses which grants them the somewhat unique ability to instantly identify areas which require improvement which can allow for unprecedented development and progress in a professional capacity.

Confidentiality

Due to a combination of excellent self-awareness and an eagerness to please people allows anxiety sufferers to become exceptional listeners and trusted advisers. Many anxiety sufferers will allow people to confide in them - high levels of empathy also - and will often carefully selected advice in a bid to help the speaker; however, more importantly, many anxiety sufferers will retain any information awarded to them with the utmost confidentiality. This is because an anxiety sufferer will worry about the consequences of revealing a person's private information and as such would prefer to keep this information to him/herself. The ability to be confidential is a wonderful character trait and can lead to the development of strong friendships and relationships.

Kindness

Many anxiety sufferers house the valuable ability to offer extreme kindness to their peers. This ability stems from the desire to gain the approval of other people by paying compliments and demonstrating a degree of empathy. As many anxiety sufferers are aware of their condition and the detrimental affect it can have on their life, they're much more understanding of the pain and problems of their surrounding peer group and often strive to help out whenever possible to ensure that people enjoy a better quality of life. Anxiety sufferers require support and thus they also understand the need for it and generally offer it also; however, the most prominent aspect of this understanding of the need for support is that the anxiety sufferer has the ability to put a person at ease about the stigma of receiving support as they themselves receive support and as such can relate. The level of support, empathy and kindness displayed by many anxiety sufferers can lead to beneficial relationships in both their professional and personal lives.

To Conclude

Many anxiety sufferers worry suffering from anxiety and it can erode their self-esteem; however, it's important that they remember the beneficial skills which make them a wonderful friend, a great asset at work and an extremely valued person. By identifying these benefits it'll help them in their battle to overcome anxiety, a battle they can and will win.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8457460
 
Don't most people with anxiety disorder also have a comorbid disorder like adhd or autism that complicates the situation?

Concientous for me:
Punctual - very much except on the occasions when I get distracted
Determined to complete tasks - not so much

Observational for me:
Compliments make me anxious about saying too much instead of simply "thank you."
So I don't give compliments.

Safety for me:
I wish I could pat myself on the back for the times I managed to avert tragedy while driving,
there have been several times when I didn't notice the danger or misjudged it, or was too impatient to be truly safe.

Self-Awareness, think before you speak? Me?
I have adhd and tend to blurt out things too quickly.
Otherwise I find the conversation took a different turn before I could share my thought, leaving me behind the loop.

Confidentiality for me:
I don't share others information easily, but often as not it's because I've forgotten (adhd) as that I'm worried about conseqences.

Kindness for me:
This natural instinct was buried for years beneath the judgmental trappings of the religion I grew up in. Glad to say it's improved in the last decade or so.

I've taken a group class in CBT and did find it helpful with some things, but it didn't really help with everything.
Maybe that's because the neurotransmitters in my brain don't work properly, taking meds makes them work more efficiently.
Just saying, both our thoughts and our neurochemicals can be helped. It's not an issue of either/or.
 
Don't most people with anxiety disorder also have a comorbid disorder like adhd or autism that complicates the situation
Dunno the answer to your question, but +1 for use of the five dolla word 'comorbid' in a sentence!
 
I find a lot of these positives very relatable.

But unfortunately, my anxiety often leaves me stuck between a rock and a hard place on quite a lot of occasions, even though it does certainly have benefits as well.
 
Anxiety is energy for me. If you are calm like dead, there is little energy left in you. I have practised ways to keep calm. But then realised that anxiety is a good thing in my line of work. Even though it keeps me on my toes, I find it very helpful.
 
I can certainly relate to a lot of these positive points - I do find that in order to combat any anxiety I may have about a situation, I will do thorough research into it, pre-plan things like "what happens if X occurs" and so on. This allows me to have a plan for just about most things. By that same nature, I would also agree that I am a bit more observational than most people I know, I tend to spot the little things in a crowd or hear/see things that others just seem to gloss over.

As I've gotten older though, I would tend to agree with @Harry above that anxiety is sort of like energy in some way. Especially when I'm abroad, that nervous energy keeps me going!
 
Especially when I'm abroad,
Perfect example. It is quite different when we are at home or at our own space and when we are surrounded by people who have no idea of our way of doing things. When we are with a familiar crowd, they will ignore you most of the time when we do stupid things. Because they know about us.
 
Going abroad is how I've managed to sort of 'grow' out of my old habits and old traits. For many years, you wouldn't catch me leaving my travel buddies side but two years ago I decided to break that mould and travel abroad independently. The first place I visited was Slovakia (I'd previously visited) but I must've spent two weeks beforehand researching cultural norms there, how to get on a bus (!) and all that kind of stuff. I was highly anxious when I originally booked the trip (knowing I'd travel alone) but the more I researched and put together my mini-handbook, that anxiety disappeared and I managed to really enjoy my first solo experience. Since then, I've visited four more countries on my own and it's been liberating. Breaks me out of my old Autistic traits but also has helped me manage my anxiety.
 
Being on our own is a challenge. Almost everyone lives up to it. Because we are built to do so. Humans can change themselves and raise to challenges with ease. Sometimes it is not so comfortable as we would like it to be. But that is going to be one of the lessons in our life.

Stay independent, do you work on your own. Don't rely on others.
 
My wife has a history of anxiety, Luckily, whenever she had an anxiety attack I was with her. I don't see any benefits of anxiety in my wife.
 
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