the.com/anxious
a smoke alarm that screams at toast and ignores the actual fire.
means feeling worried, uneasy, or nervously apprehensive about something that might happen.
from From Latin anxius, 'troubled in mind,' which grows from the verb angere, 'to choke, squeeze, or cause distress.' That same root tightens its grip on 'anguish' and 'anger,' and is a cousin of the Greek ankhein, 'to strangle.' The image hiding under the word is a literal one: anxiety as a throat squeezed shut, the chest pulled tight — worry felt as constriction. It entered English in the early 17th century already carrying that pinched, breathless weight.
- survival origin
- Evolved to keep ancestors alive, now misfires at emails
- future-obsessed
- Fear aimed at things that haven't happened yet
- body first
- Racing heart often arrives before the worried thought
- oddly common
- Roughly 300 million people share the dread worldwide
- focus fuel
- Moderate amounts sharpen memory and performance
generalized anxiety disorder — affects 6.8 million us adults annually, characterized by persistent worry
social anxiety disorder — impacts 15 million american adults, causes fear in social situations