Topic > Facing and overcoming challenges in James Lincoln Collie's book

In “Anxiety: Challenge by Another Name”, James Lincoln Collier states that “do what makes you feel anxious” because this, perhaps counterintuitively, causes that people feel much less anxious when confronted with the same anxiety-inducing scenario again. Collier's essay is often in narrative form composed of anecdotes from his life. However, Collier sometimes intersperses concepts from psychology and philosophy to similarly clarify his reasoning. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Collier's first example is when he refused to spend a summer in the Argentine Pampas during college, even though in the following months he regretted his actions and depression consumed him; his anxieties about homesickness and previous homework must no longer have prevented him from doing something he would have loved, the creator later concluded. Later, Collier points out how his newfound knowledge of the importance of taking risks led him to choose the profession of professional writer rather than writing teacher, the safer choice. His career as an author and his willingness to put himself in anxiety-producing situations have also contributed to him becoming an extremely confident traveler. Collier observed the same benefits of performing with resolve despite non-public reluctance in his son Jeff: Jeff refused to swim at first; however over the summer, with his father's reinforcement, Jeff finally observed swimming effortlessly and pleasantly. The same thing happened to me after we immigrated to the United States. The first day, I wanted to bring my daughter home from school, she was crying, when I asked her why she said I don't understand anyone's language, she was very disappointed on the first day, maybe she thought she could no longer continue her studies. I couldn't understand her problem well because it hadn't happened to me yet, so I talked to her and asked her to be patient and fight this challenge. The problem, of course, is that it is one thing to push someone else to face those anxiety-producing challenges, but another to convince ourselves to do so (James Lincoln Collier). Collier also draws on the work of psychologists and philosophers to guide his call to perform anxiety-provoking activities to avoid depression. The author mentions how the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard thought that “anxiety continually arises when we face the opportunity of our development.” From this statement, Collier concludes, anxiety is a crucial aspect of personal growth. Turning to psychology, Collier briefly describes “extinction” thinking. Extinction is the phenomenon identified by psychologists that men and women who find themselves in anxiety-causing conditions eventually study and no longer want to worry about. This once again supports Collier's thesis that anxiety is an obstacle that can be overcome. In my opinion, “Anxiety” is interpreted as more of a personal narrative than a normal persuasive essay. Collier's thesis that it is necessary to put oneself in anxious situations to stop feeling sorry for oneself and promote non-public development is a common platitude in Western culture. This statement should be taken as a piece of wisdom rather than a conclusion to be meticulously examined. Indeed, most of “Anxiety” is made up of anecdotal evidence rather than large-scale psychological data or a priori evidence. If a reader wanted to see “Anxiety” as a work of rigorous reasoning, they would quickly be surprised that the creator only used examples from his own existence and Duke Ellington's lifestyle..