I think there are often two components to things; the actual situation and then how we feel about the actual situation; if I can't deal with the situation, sometimes I work with the feeling :-)

I find it interesting, Ipse, that you downgraded the "freaked out" to just "anxious" and commented that everyone has their own idea of anxious. I try to remember that there are "degrees" of my own anxiety too and if I'm working with a situation that's difficult but "necessary" for me (attachment) then I try to make myself more "comfortable" with working on it since I can't "solve" it right away. I think your idea of doing this poll and seeing that other people have problems too is a neat idea. I work from inside myself too, do questions like "So what?" and "Who else will know or be affected?" or "How else should you feel or would you expect to feel?" to quiet my anxiety a bit. I'm a very good ignorer too sometimes, so can change my focus to the work instead of how I feel about it occasionally, so the feeling isn't so in the way. My favorite though is similar to how I work with the distracting "voices" in my head commenting on things; I get "aggressive" and pugnacious :-) and in their face, challenging them, and they get remarkably weaker/less vocal, LOL.