Often, we get anxiety for no reason, as we’re more substantial and more capable than we believe ourselves to be.
Our capacity to cope successfully with life’s challenges far outstrips our ability to feel nervousness. Yet, we can become nervous in the weeks, days, and hours leading up to an event that we believe will test our limits. While we may have previously regarded ourselves as equal to the trials that lie ahead, we reach a point where they are near, and our anxiety begins to mount. We become increasingly worked until the moment of truth arrives, and we discover that our worry was all for nothing. We are almost always more substantial and more capable than we believe ourselves to be. But anxiety is not rational, which means that we cannot work through it using logic as our only tool in most cases. Reason can help us recognize the relative futility of unwarranted worry but, more often than not, we will find more comfort in patterns of thought and activity that redirect our attention to practical or engaging matters.
Most of us find it remarkably difficult to focus on two different thoughts or emotions at once, and we can use this natural human limitation to our advantage when trying to stay centered in the period leading up to a potentially tricky experience. When we concentrate on something unrelated to our worry — such as deep breathing, visualizations of success, pleasurable pursuits, or exercise –, anxiety dissipates naturally. Meditation is also a helpful coping mechanism as it provides us with a means to ground ourselves at the moment. Our guides can aid us by providing us with a focal point wholly outside of our sphere.
The intense emotional flare-up you experience just before you are set to challenge yourself is often a mixture of excitement and fear. When you take steps to eliminate the fear, you can more fully enjoy the excitement. Though you may find it difficult to avoid getting worked up, your awareness of the forces acting on your feelings will help you return to your center and accept that the few hurdles you will face will be as high as they at first appear.