How do we understand anxiety?

 “How do we understand anxiety?

 ANXIETY IS A BREAKDOWN in our everyday ability to engage meaningfully with the world, it lets us notice what otherwise is too pervasive to attract our attention: namely, that our ability to function in the world is sustained by an immediate, felt sense for how things matter. When overcome by anxiety, that mattering “collapses” and the affordances of the world show up as being “of no consequence” (SZ 186). In this breakdown, our preoccupation with everyday tasks falls away, leaving us with a clear view of the essential structure of our existence.