NYT Sunday Magazine: The Anxious Mind
I finally got around to reading this article from a few Sundays back, about a subject near and dear to my heart, anxiety. (I know, lots of people would say they only contemplate art and sculpture, but I’m being honest; I nervously contemplate art and sculpture, realizing that I know little about either.) Anyway, it’s pretty interesting: turns out, being an anxious (or, highly reactive) child isn’t necessarily all that bad, as long as you learn to adapt later. To wit:
People with a high-reactive temperament — as long as it doesn’t show itself as a clinical disorder — are generally conscientious and almost obsessively well-prepared. Worriers are likely to be the most thorough workers and the most attentive friends. Someone who worries about being late will plan to get to places early. Someone anxious about giving a public lecture will work harder to prepare for it. Test-taking anxiety can lead to better studying; fear of traveling can lead to careful mapping of transit routes.
Kagan told me that in the 40 years he worked at Harvard, he hired at least 200 research assistants, “and I always looked for high-reactives. They’re compulsive, they don’t make errors, they’re careful when they’re coding data.”
This explains a lot! (Here are some letters to the magazine after the article was published.)
(Picture credit: Mickey Duzyj)