Anxiety tells us where the solution is

It's because, normally, we think we know. We are predisposed to certainty - our brains project patterns onto the randomness of the world and reassure us: "Tomorrow will be just like this."

Literally, our brains are designed to do this - create a sense of "normal" in the frontal cortex, so that anomalies can be noticed, and interrogated for threat or opportunity.

It makes us comfortable, allows us to believe that we are in control. And so we live our lives of middle-class, anxiety-free privilege. The unspoken truth - the Prozac phenomenon, treating a myriad of mental disorders - should have tipped us off. What does it mean that nagging suspicion that all is not what it seems to be? Why do our lives feel shallow? Why don't we grow so well? Why do our eyes open only half way, and our ears tune in to our little opinions only?

And then it comes - the wildness of nature making chaos in our bandwidth, mocking our patterns, reminding us to be more humble. The great equalizer making soil of our bodies to grow its virus in, a pathogen with an aeroplane-people zero point, decapitating our civilization before it trickles down to the the essential services grass roots that always had its feet in the immuno-stimulating dirt.

Our civilization is on its head, perhaps to help us think better.

The mystics talk about alertness, a state of being that is primed to notice, but not burdened with the paralyzing toxin of anxiety. Anxiety likes to taunt us with the question, "What if...". Well, to pull the rug out from under this rhetorical bullying tactic, let's answer the question. Let's do the mental work of playing out the scenarios that anxiety hints at, but never articulates. Let's get detailed. If needs be, let's write the scenarios down - threat, response, outcome, resources needed. Keep the lists, throw them away, make some changes in your behavior or environment to mitigate the risk, and calm down. Let's get sane.

If anxiety is the loud and persistent indicator to where we suspect danger lies, let's treat it with the respect it deserves. Give it a voice. Talk it down with data, plans, resources or diffuse it with logic. This is the sane thing to do.

Here's an example:

Anxiety: OMG, what of the Zombies come?

Sanity: Zombies? Who are these zombies? Where will they come from? Why will they come here?

Anxiety: Um, I guess you're not going to buy into the Hollywood version, so let's say they are a version of voracious humanity that cannot be reasoned with and will march over and devour me and mine for the sake of their own survival, or as an expression of their violent, ravenous nature.

Sanity: Ok, yes, there are those kinds of people. So, what is the likelihood of them coming here, where will they come from?

Anxiety: They seem to be everywhere, but concentrated in high crime areas. But my stuff makes me a target, and I don't want to do without my stuff.

Sanity: What is the likelihood of this happening? Is there somewhere else we can go that makes us less of a target? Or can we be less obvious about what we have? How can we improve our security and early warning systems?

Anxiety: We could start by looking at crime stats to get a realistic picture. And if they keep on coming in endless waves like an invading army, we need an army too. Perhaps my neighbors feel the same and we can review our neighborhood security. And I should review my home security too, and do some scenario protocol planning for in case. And maybe review my household insurance.

Sanity: OK. Do that. By when will you have it done?

You see that last accountability step? Staying sane requires mental discipline. Because if anxiety and its zombies aren't coming for you, some nasty hormonal or neurochemical boogieman probably is.