Worrying a Solution

Question: why do we humans get anxious about the unknown? Why do we get anxious at all?

I honestly don't know. The old adage is, "Don't worry about it until it happens," but this is small comfort for most people. One working theory of mine is that anxiety is the work of our minds to fill in blanks. And given how creative we are, we are capable of filling in those blanks with remarkable things ... often remarkably bad things. That's my problem -- I "catastrophize" myself into a frenzy.

But going back ... what "natural selection" advantage would that offer? For me, anxiety creates an enormous amount of mental problem analysis. I toss and turn and fret and think about the problem at hand a lot. But what comes from it -- after a spell -- is usually a solution. And that solution is almost always the result of anxiety and the mental out come of that anxiety.

I'll toss the ball back to you. During a chess match when things aren't going well for you, do you experience something akin to anxiety? Does that cause you to be more creative? Perhaps be more daring in your analysis of potential options?