When stress is high and anxiety has taken over, the hardest thing anyone can do is “calm down”. What if, instead, you capitalised on this negative, heightened emotion and turned it into a more positive one, like excitement. Start by telling yourself, “I am excited.”
Image by rvanarsdale.
They’re three simple words, but the “magic” is in how you’re shifting your focus from all the things that could go wrong to all the opportunities for good things to happen. As Alison Wood Brooks, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, mentions in this The Atlantic video, anxiety doesn’t actually go away; you just put yourself in the mindset that allows you to do better.
The reason is that anxiety and excitement are both similar arousal state of emotions. The video explains that it’s easier to get from anxiety to excitement, rather than anxiety to calm. So, next time you’re feeling anxious about going to speak at your meeting or even singing karaoke in front of others, convince yourself that you’re excited.
How to Turn Anxiety Into Excitement [The Atlantic]
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