Anxiety is a very common disorder in today’s world, largely due to the fact that we feel rushed, pressured and pushed to perform, pay the mortgage, deal with children and, on top of all that, live a full life. No wonder we have anxiety. But what is anxiety trying to tell us? From the perspective of Jungian psychology, anxiety is the psyche’s way of telling us that the way we live is out of balance. Instead of seeing anxiety as something to be drugged away, we should see that the psyche is giving us a clear message about our one-sided life and gently asking us to change this. Viewed this way, anxiety symptoms are there to guide us out of a lifestyle that no longer works.
Carl Jung argued that anxiety symptoms are intentional, functional and have a goal: the alteration of our lifestyle. When we eliminate symptoms through medication, we deny the wisdom of the psyche to make normal, natural changes. Anxiety often shows up in midlife, when many of us experience a midlife crisis. The first half of life is aimed at establishing our identity, our relationships, our occupation, and building the resources necessary to perform all these tasks. But there comes a time when we need to turn inward, encounter the contents of the unconscious (often provided in the form of dreams), and search for the essential meaning of life. What is my purpose in life? Because I am here? How could I live a more balanced and natural life? It is anxiety that often prompts us to answer these questions. The next time you feel intense anxiety, ask yourself what the psyche is trying to tell you. What am I doing that creates the anxiety? So I start to address the causes of the symptoms, rather than the cure.
If we answer the question: what is anxiety trying to tell me?, we begin to address the cause. This may mean some change in the way you live your life, but this change does not necessarily mean that you become less competent or less valued, rather it means that you begin to value the wisdom of your psyche more than before. By addressing the causes of anxiety and making lifestyle changes, your anxiety should lessen, having achieved its goal: leading you towards a more complete and balanced lifestyle.
