Whenever people discuss anxiety, they typically gravitate to the negatives: the lack of flexibility, moodiness, insomnia, and outbursts over things that other people may find inconsequential, but there is one situation in which a person may actually benefit from an anxiety disorder: an actual emergency.

You see, those of us with anxiety have spent so much time anticipating and worrying over the worst possible scenarios, that when one actually comes true, we are ready for it. We are used to the increased stressors that send us into fight or flight mode (increased heart rate, rapid breathing, increased sweating) because we constantly experience them, and since we regularly run emergency scenarios through our heads, as anxiety is often triggered by imagining that whatever you plan on doing in the future is going to end up in the worst possible way, we tend to be able to think pretty clearly when the actual situation occurs.

So when my son was chasing our dog around the back yard and stepped on a nail, I did not hesitate to bandage his foot, and get him to the emergency room to make sure that none of the nail had gotten stuck in his foot, make sure he was up to date on his tetanus shots, and get him some antibiotics to prevent infection. I did not panic, I did not run around like a chicken with her head cut off, wondering what I should do, I just looked at the situation, figured out what needed to be done, and I did it.

And this is not exclusive to me. Like most things, it may not be true of everyone who has anxiety, but it is a very common trait among people with anxiety disorders, and if you are ever in an emergency, you may be surprised to find yourself being the one to take the lead.