Chose excitement over anxiety

I am not sure if many of you are like me but I have a wide range of massive goals that excite me, push me and scare me.

When I come across something that I know is going to push me out of my comfort zone and in the direction of where I need to be a nervous excitement or even anxiety sometimes appears.

As a young child I recognized nerves as excitement. It wasn't until I was eleven and I started to feel stress and anxiety around performing in competitions, acting in plays, and tests that I began saying I was nervous. I also believe because this is the time in most girl's lives where we become very socially aware of our peers and others. A few of my team mates would always say "I'm so nervous" right before our competition and this concept spread throughout the team like wild fire. You could feel the tension and negative energy that would affect all of us. Soon the whole team was feeling anxiety, were not talking or eating and were silently awaiting their doom in their swim suits and towels on the side of the pool and made the process not as fun. It was like we dreaded competition when really if I look back now we should have been really proud as we were practicing every day in rain or shine to be the best we could be and laughing all the way through until it came to competitions. We also were pretty good!

I also admit that I had heard somewhere that one should never say they are nervous even if they are. Say you are excited. I, at the time didn't understand why it worked but it gave me relief so I told my team and some adopted the idea. The ones who adopted this concept had a more pleasurable experience while competing and were more relaxed overall.

Today as an adult I know that studies have shown that if we simply say "I am excited," prior to that big meeting, audition, public speaking gig, performance or first day of teaching it takes our brain out of the threat mindset and into a curious, opportunity mindset that cultivates positivity, opportunity and fascination. Our human brains are wired to survive after all and we recognize anxiety on the flight or fight spectrum of emotions. It's also much harder to get from anxiety to calm than anxiety to excitement as the two emotions are high arousal, adrenaline pumping states and calm is on a different vibration.

So my tip for myself and everyone. Say "I am excited!" When you begin to feel the nerves pop up! IT WORKS, PROMISE!

xoxo

Let me know if you try this out and if it works for you!