How to Use Anxious Feelings as Your Own Secret Weapon
Most people think of an intense fear or an uncontrollable worry when they think of anxious feelings, but everyone experiences this differently. We all get nervous from time to time. Feelings of fear, worry, or distress can be disrupting and even hinder us from daily life, but they don’t have to. When properly directed, being anxious can easily turn from a fear, into one of your strongest motivators. Keep reading if you’re interested in finding out three ways to make your nervousness work for you.
Stop Fighting It
When you feel a bout of anxious feelings coming on, don’t try and pretend it isn’t happening. In fact, by struggling against your fears and trying to fight off anxious feelings, you’ll only overwork yourself and make it harder to be productive. If you want to accept your feelings of anxiousness, the key is to identify and accept the triggers that cause it.
When you feel your heartbeat increasing or palms sweating, you’ll likely want to make these feelings go away as quickly as possible. Instead, accept these feelings for what they are and consider how you’ll utilize them. Anxious feelings are a physical and mental response to perceived danger or risk. Identify what you find risky in your environment and logically consider how you can navigate it. After all, you can’t use something to your advantage if you’re fighting it.
Anxiousness Is Energy
If your body were a car, then feelings of anxiousness would be a hyper-efficient fuel. The key to using this as your secret weapon is to stop stewing over what makes you anxious and start acting on those feelings instead. The beauty of feeling nervous is that it presents you with only two options: sit and become even more afraid of your thoughts, or act until it goes away. By letting it push you into action, you’ll quickly find it is one of the best workplace motivators out there. Be sure to act fast, or your anxiousness will build until it’s uncontrollable.
Control It
The key to controlling anxiousness is knowing when it’s out of balance. Minor issues like light sweating or nervous tapping might not affect you too much. When you feel yourself losing control, try discussing your feelings with a trusted mentor or even talking to a therapist to help calm yourself down. After identifying common triggers, try to form a planned offense. Repeat positive phrases to yourself before entering a situation which will make you nervous. Before performing or presenting, remind yourself of past successes and visualize a positive experience. Alternatively, lavender and rose doTERRA essential oils have helped people to relax when they have anxious feelings, and you can find many other coping tricks and advice to help you control these feelings.
If you want to use your nervous feelings effectively, then you need recognize it for what it is, let it spur you into action, and be able to stop or control it. By using a few of the above strategies, you’ll be able to turn your anxious feelings from a hurdle into your own secret weapon.
