Business Development Manager Rebecca Mortby was at the home of Sheffield United at Bramall Lane yesterday for an ActionCOACH Sheffield workshop with other members of the local business community.
When discussing confidence and overcoming discomfort, Jon Asquith spoke about how the feelings of excitement and anxiety are the same physical feeling. This is because they are characterised by high arousal; one being the anticipation of something good and one being the anticipation of something bad.
So if the physical sensation is the same, how do we know whether it is excitement or nerves that we’re feeling?
This is down to our own perception of it, in other words what we know about the situation.
Sometimes something as simple as relabelling our nerves as excitement, can be enough to turn that feeling from a negative one to a positive experience. We can (and often are) both at the same time.
Steven Bartlett host of The Diary Of A CEO reports that he ‘rarely gets nervous’ before going on stage, even in front of huge crowd because he tells himself ‘I’m excited’ and ‘I’m going to enjoy this’.
Anxiety is a normal part of life and a healthy emotion, when we are experiencing fear, worry or stress, and these feelings usually come and go. This is not to be mistaken for anxiety disorder, where sufferers experience intense anxiety or anxiety over prolonged periods of time.
Getting more comfortable with discomfort is a powerful tool for overcoming a range of life’s hurdles, whether they be personal or professional.
Dr Maria Downs explains ‘When we regularly avoid unfamiliar, stressful or difficult situations in order to avoid those negative feelings we also limit our ability to feel positive feelings, which is when many people report feeling dull or flat.’
Therapy isn’t about making people happy, but as Maria explains it ‘helps people to access and make sense of a fuller range of emotions to allow them to widen their experiences and lead richer, fuller lives’.
