I hope that didn't sound glib . I have GAD as well, and depression , although personally find it hard to differentiate and I think those diagnosis are provisional at best . One of the traps I found easy to fall into was becoming anxious about my anxiety disorder and if could ever overcome it . That's fun..... I think that life is hard and inherently sad , but it is also the opposite of those things as well. Some people say our anxieties are just visible surfaces of a much larger and unconscious fear - death- and that the way in which we live nowadays , which has in effect sort of made this central anxiety invisible , forces us to create all of these essentially imaginary problems . So I try and just keep things in perspective that way , and accept the fact that I don't really know what I am doing
That's all probably true -- but I'm glad you threw in that life is also the opposite of "inherently sad" -- sometimes it's a real riot! Sometimes I think god is laughing his [whatever] off at all of our foibles. Sometimes I feel like god is shooting spitwads at us, just for the meanness of it. And sometimes I wonder why a life form that shares a lot of characteristics with a virus gets the idea that we're somehow the sole repository in the universe of consciousness and sentience.
And also... what you said is true, somewhat, about our fears.... but you do have to take into consideration that neuroscience has made great strides in identifying much of the brain's chemical action, and why some types of brain chemical action aren't very comfortable for us, and they've even made some decent progress in learning how to correct some of those brain chemical problems. I'd be the first to say that they've got a LONG way to go, because the withdrawal from Effexor and other drugs of that ilk is just hellish; and maybe they'll never know *everything* about the brain and how it works -- but you know, if someone suffered from depression/anxiety a hundred years ago, they just threw 'em in a madhouse. If it was 2 or 3 hundred years ago, they'd call 'em possessed and attempt to exorcise the demon.
I really think that for *most* issues, therapy is probably the best choice, but if the brain chemistry is so freaking wigged out, sometimes progress just can't be made, until you do something to correct some of the chemical mayhem. That was true for me; we were in therapy for a couple of months, and although our relationship was stronger, my own feelings weren't getting any better, I was *still* at the point of, if it doesn't stop hurting, I'm just going to kill myself. Once I had been on the Effexor for a month or so, I felt a great deal like my old self again, and over time, I actually became my old self again, so that I could see that suicide actually is the "permanent solution to a temporary problem."
When the problems are that bad, I think it's wrong to disregard any potential therapy, psychiatric, emotional, or pharmaceutical; they can all work together, to create a sense of peace of mind so that one actually can get up each morning and face each new day's cosmic spitwads.
Andria
All it ever did for me was make me look for more alcohol -- that didn't taste like anise, bleah! I once successfully conned my ex into buying me all the component ingredients of Nyquil, plus a bottle of wine, simply because Nyquil tastes so vile. I dunno if it helped the cold, but it sure made me feel better. 
