Does Anxiety Really Equal Existential Awareness?

Upon reading the OpEd of the NYT earlier this month, I thought I would write my thoughts on this topic, as I find that many quite intelligent people feel that a certain amount of anxiety is necessary for optimal productivity and functioning. Hmm...I am pretty sure that the eastern philosophy scholars among us would disagree. While it may feel that in order to stay ahead of the game, we must agonize and obsess about our various goals over and over again, until we are finally rid of the cursed thoughts by completing the task at hand, this may not be the most effective and certainly is not the most enjoyable way to achieving our goals. Perhaps there is a way to get things done without driving ourselves into a state that requires immediate discharge to ameliorate the discomfort? Just think of the amount of energy that this approach requires? Maybe life really does happen when we are doing other things, and we are just often too anxious and focused on achieving our goals to notice the very things that would make it all worth the effort. Perhaps there is a way to approach one's life from a different perspective, not with existential angst, but with existential curiosity and wonder. I personally do not subscribe to the idea that anxiety is the natural and necessary byproduct of the examined mind. While I think that it is imperative to have compassion and understanding of the countless worries and anxieties of our lives, there is something to be said for simply  having the ability to look up and openly smile at the person standing next to you in the line of life.  Below is the link to the NYT article:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07EFDF123AF93BA25750C0A9649D8B63