Anxiety is information about the uncertain future: something bad could happen, but something good could still happen, too. Anxiety is waiting for your Covid test to come back positive or negative, or anticipating that difficult conversation with your boss that might go well or might go completely sideways. Anxiety isn't, however, information about certain and present threats – that's fear, like seeing a shark fin rise out of the water mere yards away from where you're swimming. Fear primarily prepares us to fight, take flight, or freeze, whereas anxiety is a civilisation builder. It prepares us to persist, remain vigilant, and act in ways that avert future disaster but also can make positive possibilities into reality.
