A long time ago, Jen (co-founder of Quill and my wife!) blew my (Jon's) mind when she explained anxiety and how it's actually a super useful thing... in the right situations! Like it literally helped our ancestors survive -- and those who lacked some of that anxiety? Well, they perished, to put it lightly.
A monkey who isn't anxious around a tiger? Oops, dead. A monkey who isn't anxious about falling off a tree branch? Also dead. But a monkey who is anxious about both of those things? They survived -- and probably had baby monkeys, passed along its genes (and possibly anxiety), and the generations continue from there.
The issue today is that we aren't running from a rhinoceros or lion. We aren't randomly almost falling off a cliff. We are... sitting at desks typing at computers. We're at school taking multiple choice tests. We're shopping at the grocery store, where the biggest risk is maybe buying the wrong flavor of yogurt.
--
Today's therapy-related game is based on this topic: Anxiety Monkey!
