Something Completely Different

It concerns me, particularly as a person who speaks about mood disorders, that I keep hearing the same term enough to make me think a trend is forming. Whether in conversation, prayer, or written articles, it keeps popping up. The term I keep hearing- anxiety.

I'm quite certain the current economic uncertainty is a big part of our anxiety. People are concerned their families have provision. That is a fair concern. People are concerned about their ability to sustain and grow income in the future. Another fair concern. If those (and others) are worth attention, where is the problem?

The problem with anxiety is its tendency to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. A person begins to worry about something legitimate, more time is devoted to thinking about the issue, more worries come to mind, and soon he begins to worry about worrying. This, while somewhat oversimplified, is what happens in anxiety disorders. So much worry about "bad stuff' creates something bad.

How, though, is this becoming so pervasive? I'm not a psychologist or social scientist, just a common nut with some thoughts about how my broken brain works, but it may be as simple as information overload. When I am struggling with anxiety issues one of the first things I have to do is reconnect- less 'net, less news, less weather, more time enjoying relationships.

I'm of the opinion we have plugged ourselves in to the point society is beginning to worry about worrying. Fundamentally things are not terrible in our society. Sure, things could be better; but when couldn't things be better?

To look at something objective I look return to the economy. Corporate revenues and incomes are fairly strong. Cash reserves are as strong as they have been in a long time. Why is this not translating into more investment and personal income growth? We are so worried about what could happen that we have frozen out fact-based judgement and fulfilled our worst fears.

What's caused this? We hear so much of what is going on in the world, and most of it is negative. Why? Good news doesn't sell. What do we do now? It may be time, as a society, to reconnect. How do we do it? We do something positive, one at a time, until it can no longer be ignored that good things do happen.