Reframe Anxiety

Have you ever watched the Olympics,

And after someone wins the big race,

The reporter asks,

Were you anxious before the race?

Many times you'll hear the response,

I wasn't anxious,

I was excited.

So this got me thinking.

Biochemically speaking,

Anxiety and excitement are similar,

But it's how you think about the feeling that causes your body to respond in a certain way.

For me,

This became clear with public speaking.

Years ago,

I was feeling some intense anxiety throughout my life,

Specifically around public speaking.

As I was progressing in my career,

I had to do more and more of it.

Before each speech,

I would feel the anxiety overwhelm me.

It got to a point where a couple times I was actually concerned that I might faint during my talk.

I would even black out and feel woozy,

It was horrible.

Then when I heard this concept of anxiety is excitement minus breath,

It helped me reframe my thoughts.

Since the feeling of anxiety and excitement are similar,

When this feeling would come up before a speech,

I would take a few deep,

Slow,

Full belly breaths and tell myself,

It's normal to feel excited.

It means you're ready.

This small shift made a big impact.

It allowed me to harness that energy for good and drop into a state of flow.

It could be hard to do at first,

But by consistently reframing your thoughts every time you feel that anxious feeling,

No matter the situation,

It allows you to channel that energy for your own benefit.

So next time that you find anxiety present in your life,

Take a few deep belly breaths and tell yourself,

It's normal to feel excited.

It means I'm ready.

Come back to this track whenever you need to remind yourself of that truth.