Cultivating Courage

Coronavirus Disease 2019

Sacred Anxiety and the Silver Lining of COVID-19

Richard Zinbarg Ph.D. on March 12, 2020

Are you freaked out by the coronavirus? If so, there may be a silver lining to your anxiety.

Are you freaked out by the coronavirus? If so, there may be a silver lining to your anxiety.

What will the Tucson shooting say about the rest of us? My prediction is that the Tucson shooting is going to reveal the resilience and courageousness of the human spirit.

Some forms of anxiety are almost certainly uniquely human—including fears arising from our awareness of our mortality and of being separate, small beings in a vast universe.

Does fear or being fearful make one cowardly? Many of the patients I have treated for anxiety disorders over the years have espoused the view that the fear and anxiety they experienced were signs that they were weak and cowardly. In my view, however, we cannot be courageous or strong in situations in which we have no fear or anxiety.