3 Tips For Overcoming Performance Anxiety
/If you've never experienced it yourself, you've probably seen it before.
Your favorite athlete choking in the fourth quarter. A classmate who is the brightest in the class completely fails a test despite knowing the material. A colleague sweating, stuttering, and coughing during a presentation.
What do these three examples have in common? You guessed it! Performance anxiety.
Performance anxiety is exactly what it sounds like. It's anxiety that creeps up on you before or during an event. It can happen to anyone at any time. Usually, it involves an event that involves people watching them or a monumental moment in one's life.
Performance anxiety is extremely common. Luckily, there are things that you can do to be proactive rather than reactive in dealing with it.
Here are 3 tips for overcoming performance anxiety.
1. Allow Yourself to Feel
You've probably heard the phrase, "Admitting it is the first step". Well, the same phrase can be used when it comes to performance anxiety. If you keep burying down how you're truly feeling when it comes to performing at whatever event may be causing you to have performance anxiety, the worse your anxiety will get over time.
Not sure if you have performance anxiety or not? Don't worry, we're here to help. These are some of the most common signs and symptoms of performance anxiety:
Blurry vision
Digestive issues
Dry mouth
Nausea
Rapid Heartrate
Sweating
If you're experiencing a few of the symptoms above, there's a good chance you may be dealing with performance anxiety. The sooner you admit to yourself that you may have performance anxiety, the sooner you'll be able to tackle some of those signs and symptoms you're experiencing. Don't dismiss how you're feeling. Allow yourself to feel and then work towards overcoming those feelings instead of dismissing them.
2. Identify and Understand Your Triggers
Another great way to try to manage and overcome your performance anxiety is to figure out what exactly may be causing it. Once you determine what may be causing your anxiety, you'll be able to better understand and work towards overcoming the signs and symptoms you're experiencing. If you're needing a little extra help identifying your potential triggers, try to journal the next time you're feeling anxious. Journaling can help get all of those negative thoughts onto the pages instead of being stuck in your head. Plus, it's a great tool to look back on later to see if you can identify triggers or any coping mechanisms that may have worked for you.
3. Practice Mindfulness
A lot of anxiety stems from thinking about past events or worrying about future events that haven't even occurred yet. It could even be caused by thinking about making a mistake or the anxiety you felt during the last time you experienced performance anxiety. Mindfulness is a great thing to implement to bring yourself back to the present moment and keep yourself grounded. Keep in mind that a lot of the anxiety you're dealing with is just your own thoughts getting in the way of your actions. Mindfulness can help you stop those negative thoughts and replace them with more positive thoughts. There are several different mindfulness techniques out there, so you'll have to try a few out and see what works best for you. Here are a few examples to try out:
Body scan
Deep breathing
Meditation
Yoga
Next Steps
If you're still struggling with performance anxiety, you're not alone. Many people struggle with performance anxiety. If and when your anxiety is starting to affect your day-to-day routine, it may be a good sign that it's time to reach out for additional support. You are not defined by your performance anxiety. Working with a therapist can help you get to the root cause of your anxiety and help you find ways to better control and manage the signs and symptoms you're experiencing.
If you're interested in setting up a consultation for anxiety treatment, reach out today.