The Essence of Anxiety: How to Make Peace with Anxiety? Including Access to the SAS Anxiety Self-Assessment Scale Online Test

 Anxiety: A Common Challenge in Modern Life

These days, anxiety seems to have become the standard for everyone. In the book Cognitive Awakening, author Zhou Ling offers profound insights into the essence of anxiety. With simple yet deep explanations, he reveals the root causes of anxiety and provides practical solutions.

The Essence of Anxiety: The Gap Between Desire and Ability

Zhou Ling sharply points out that the fundamental cause of anxiety is the desire to do many things at once while wanting to see immediate results. This statement resonates strongly. Reflecting on personal experiences, isn’t it true that we often create long to-do lists yet feel restless due to the lack of visible outcomes?

The author further elaborates, stating, “All human suffering is essentially anger at one’s own incompetence.” This pain often stems from two key factors:

1. Desires far exceed abilities.
2. A severe lack of patience.

We frequently devise grand plans, aiming to do everything but end up excelling at nothing. Isn’t this a classic case of the significant disparity between desire and ability?

SAS Anxiety Self-Assessment Scale: Free Online Test

The SAS Anxiety Self-Assessment Scale is a standard tool for measuring the severity of anxiety and its changes during treatment. It helps psychologists, counselors, and psychiatrists evaluate an individual’s level of anxiety and monitor changes over the course of treatment. However, it should not be used for diagnosing mental illnesses.

The full name of SAS is the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, developed by William W.K. Zung. This scale has become one of the most commonly used psychological measurement tools among mental health professionals.

Do you know if you are anxious? Do you often feel overwhelmed by anxiety? What signs indicate that you might be in an anxious state? This mental health test can help clarify your concerns. The test consists of 20 questions, so please read each question carefully and choose based on your actual feelings over the past week. Please note that this self-assessment scale is not a diagnostic tool; it is for reference only.

You can scan the QR code below to enter the test:

SAS-Self-Rating Anxiety Scale Test

You can also copy this link into your browser: https://m.psyctest.cn/t/Bmd7YO5V/

Five Practical Approaches to Alleviating Anxiety

Based on an understanding of the essence of anxiety, the author suggests five practical solutions that you can try:

1. Restraining Desires
   Learn to say “no” to temptations. Don’t be overwhelmed by various opportunities; instead, focus on what truly matters. This is akin to Buffett’s “20 Slot” rule: invest your energy in the most important tasks.
2. Facing Reality
   Accurately assess your capabilities, which requires honesty and courage. For instance, one might often overestimate their execution efficiency at work, leading to failed plans. Acknowledging our limitations can help us set more achievable goals.
3. Prioritizing Important Tasks
   Identify and concentrate on the most important tasks among your to-do list. Ask yourself, “If I could only complete one task today, which one would hold the greatest value?” This simple question can guide you to find the true priorities. List all the things you want to do, rank them, and identify the most crucial one to clear your mind.
4. Accepting the Environment
   Recognize the limitations of your environment and make the best choices within the existing conditions. Perfectionism often exacerbates anxiety; learning to make optimal choices within constraints is key.
5. Confronting Core Issues
   Identify and overcome the most significant obstacles. Sometimes, we need to push ourselves to focus on the most challenging problems rather than getting sidetracked by peripheral issues. Adopt a steering mindset, maintain reflection, and clarify long-term significance and intrinsic motivations.

Anxiety Is Not the Enemy

Anxiety is not an enemy; rather, it serves as a mirror reflecting areas for improvement. In daily life, we can:

• Focus on only 1–2 important goals each week.
• Set more realistic time expectations for each goal.
• When facing anxiety, first ask if expectations are too high.

As the book states, alleviating anxiety is not an overnight task but rather a process requiring continuous practice and adjustment. What’s crucial is to learn to reconcile with oneself, maintaining patience and a peaceful mindset while striving for progress.

In this era filled with temptations and pressures, learning to coexist with anxiety may be a skill everyone needs to develop. As the author suggests, when we can accurately recognize and adjust the relationship between our desires and abilities, anxiety will gradually dissipate.