Anxiety can’t be solved. And that’s a good thing.
According to existential philosophy (stay with me here), there are TWO kinds of anxiety, and it’s critical to understand the distinction between them.
Existential anxiety is the natural feeling you feel when moving from a state of safety to one of vulnerability. That’s healthy.
That feeling you feel when you’re afraid of how others see you? The fear of public shaming? That’s NEUROTIC anxiety. That’s the disease.
Neurotic anxiety is a dysfunctional derivative of existential anxiety. It’s the DENIAL of existential anxiety.
Here’s what “the Peters” have to say about this:
“If we could learn to live with anxiety and see it as a positive key to our own well-being and not something erasable or caused by others, we could then drop our defensive routines. Drop the narrative that does not work that well anyway. We could begin to trust ourselves more and to trust each other. We would be less fearful of people in power, for we would realize that the grief we thought they brought us was in reality unavoidably self-inflicted.”
— Peter Block (2023)
"When anxiety is denied, our nature is denied. ...As a result, the price we pay for the denial of existential anxiety is severe. The dominant consequence is to restrict our life."
— Peter Koestenbaum (1978)
Existential anxiety is like complexity - it just is. Don’t deny it. Embrace it.
What precisely does this all have to do with organizational behavior? Everything. Watch Niels and me on BetaCodex LIVE this Friday on YouTube to learn how.
Oh, what a helpful post. Thank you for this. It's just what I needed to read, and it's more helpful than you may know. Already looking forward to reading what you share next. Hugs to you !
So many people end up trying to dismiss their anxiety as neurotic — or being pressured by others to that effect — when in fact there is significant existential relevance to the actual well-being and survival of the physical body.
The anxiety label being so extensively used in gaslighting; humans really need to know and practice how to listen, learn, recognize, and support ourselves and one another in the midst of so many serious... and often subtle, or hidden... existential dangers.
I love these quotes from the Peters, and there are great distinctions in this post.