Dealing with anxiety is something most people do not talk about as often as it may need to be. Have you ever felt anxious about the small stuff, and completely had a breakdown over it? Like being late for work because of traffic, or even an upcoming test that you’re sweating.

While suffering from anxiety obviously has its downsides, there is a flip side to the stress, perhaps five.

Often people who consistently deal with anxiety, have a heightened sense of perception than those who do not. Meaning those with anxiety can see things differently than most people.

Here are five superpowers that anxiety gave to you:

1. Sensing Other People’s Energy

Have you ever felt like you can channel people’s positive or negative energy around you? People who are anxious, often have a gut feeling about people, which can determine whether they will be comfortable around that person.  Usually, if the anxious person is comfortable, the other person carries positive energy. On the other hand, the ones with the bad vibes, harbor negative energy of some kind around their ora.

2. Increased Empathy

Dealing with anxiety also entails dealing with emotions.  There are different levels of empathy, however, because someone with anxiety, has a better understanding of others and their feelings. Normally, having those levels of empathy, are uncommon in most humans. The reason being, anxious people deal with their emotions on daily basis, compared to most, which also helps, because there are the people who connect best with others daily.

3. Life-Saving Instincts

A study published in the European Journal of Psychology, found that people who suffer from anxiety, are best to detect danger and respond to it. When you spend a large portion of your time thinking about the worst possibilities, from the outcome of your decision, you have a clear understanding, as well as recognize the potential dangers.

4. Increased IQ

So far, you can tell folks with anxiety spend a lot of time over-analyzing situations, and every possible outcome. Researchers from SUNY Downstate Medical Centre in New York, found that people with anxiety tend to have higher IQs than other people on average.

5. Lie Detectors

Those dealing with intense levels of anxiety are extremely cautious in their life. More often than not, they can always see through a lie. If something doesn’t make sense to them or doesn’t add up, they are the first to call you out.