You Need More Anxiety, Not Less
Just make sure it's the right kind
In 1950, Rollo May published The Meaning of Anxiety, his doctoral dissertation that would become a powerfully influential work in existential psychology. At its core was a distinction that still resonates today: the difference between anxiety that diminishes us and anxiety that expands us.
May called these two types of anxiety “neurotic anxiety” and “normal anxiety.” According to May, neurotic anxiety is disproportionate to actual threats and arises from unconscious internal conflicts. Neurotic anxiety distorts our relationship with reality. On the other hand, normal anxiety is our fundamental response to genuine threats to our existence or to values we hold dear. It’s proportionate, grounded in reality, and critically important.
May understood that normal anxiety isn’t something to eliminate, a fact that western society seems wholly naïve to. It’s a signal, pointing us toward the things that matter most to us. As May conveyed…
