WHEN WE experience anxiety, we almost always wish we didn’t. Often we are tempted to try to shake off our uneasiness by denial or distraction, but this dismissal can be a serious mistake. Unless we are irrationally afraid of something that isn’t actually dangerous, a modest amount of anxiety can alert us to signs of imminent danger that would otherwise cause us needless harm.

Moderate anxiety can also motivate us to call on resources we otherwise allow to lie dormant. For some emotionally conservative people, anxiety is the only access they have to their suppressed excitement.

In any case, none of us ever feels fully prepared for totally new undertakings. Some anxiety is simply the necessary uneasiness that comes with undertaking new adventures.

Anxiety can be useful to motivate us for change.