THE ANATOMY OF ANXIETY: WHAT MAKES YOU ANXIOUS?

Picture yourself on a stage, the spotlight fixed upon you, as an eager crowd of 500 people awaits your address. With your name echoing through the auditorium, you stride towards the podium. Despite meticulous preparation, your heart races with palpitations, and your once-steady focus fluctuates.

Your breath becomes shallow, amplifying the unease you feel. An imminent sense of failure hangs heavy, making you believe that your speech is destined to fail. You attempt deep breaths to regain composure, yet your anxiety prevails.

The fear of failing consumes you, and you find yourself powerless, grappling with your racing heart and trembling hands. Somehow, you begin speaking, though your voice remains subdued. In a blink, your allotted five minutes get over and as you step down, you are left pondering what happened. 

You wonder if you could have slowed down and made more of your time on that stage. But there's also a sense of relief that your performance wasn't as disastrous as you feared. You were under the grip of anxiety. Had you harnessed it better, your speech could have been truly impactful.

After winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2013, Jennifer Lawrence tripped on her way to the stage to accept her Oscar. She later admitted to feeling anxious about the possibility of falling on such a grand stage. Even renowned actors are not immune from anxiety.

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A moderate amount of anxiety is not only unavoidable but also beneficial, as it provides us with an additional surge of energy to manage challenging situations effectively. Nevertheless, there are instances when anxiety becomes overwhelmingly potent, disrupting our efforts and making us incapable of concentrating on our immediate tasks.

This heightened anxiety compels us to focus disproportionately on unfavourable outcomes, leading to a situation where we are unable to execute tasks for which we possess the necessary skills.

Anxiety is a shadow that trails uncertainty. It thrives in the unknown, casting its dark cloud over a range of scenarios. Whether it's the anxiety of catching the last train home, the suspense of being successful in life, the craving for approval from people, the tension before a crucial exam or the pressure of outshining colleagues at work, it takes on many forms. Sometimes, it arrives uninvited, without any reason.

There could be various causes of anxiety, from physical to psychological. However, one useful way of understanding it is as being constituted of two major factors.

The first one is our value system, which decides how much importance we attach to different kinds of tasks.

Second, is the lack of understanding of what we can control and what we cannot.

Our ego, a product of our innate traits and a lifetime of conditioning by family and society ascribes values to various objectives. The greater the value we assign to a goal and the more it threatens to bolster or bruise our ego, the more ferociously anxiety can rear its head.

Fear of falling short of our ego's lofty expectations concerning tasks which matter to us generates anxiety. If a batsman who has scored two consecutive centuries goes to the next match with the mindset that he must score a century again, his ego is creating a lofty goal which may induce anxiety. 

Anxiety also thrives in the nebulous territory between what we can control and what remains beyond our grasp. If we knew something to be entirely under our control, we would hardly experience any anxiety. The more uncertainty, the higher the anxiety. Some individuals excel at channelling their focus towards what's within their control, which empowers them to skilfully manage their anxiety.

In the example above, if the batsman is well-prepared for the pitch and the bowling attack, he can choose to focus more on his preparation and back his skills to score runs. If he lets his focus waiver towards what could go wrong, anxiety would take over him.

As humans, we are naturally inclined to focus more on the things which can cause us harm. This is an evolutionary mechanism as it helps us survive. However, this mechanism is still active when the situation is not life-threatening, but our ego attaches undue importance to it.

Not being able to deliver an impactful speech is by no means life-threatening. However, to our ego, it appears nothing short of it. 

To gain mastery over this delicate balance of control, we must cultivate a state of tranquillity and grounding, which stands in stark contrast to anxiety's turbulence. Grounding encompasses humility, self-awareness and the cultivation of a clear, alert mind.

It requires us to recognise our awareness and adopt a vantage point of detached observation.

In this serene state, we discern what holds significance and what lies within the sphere of our control when tackling any task. We refrain from being consumed by elements that are beyond our control.

Tune In

For instance, envision yourself going for a job interview. Acknowledge the importance of giving the right answers, but also recognise that your very existence is not tethered to a flawless performance.

Some aspects, such as the interviewer's unpredictable reactions or those initial flutters of nervousness, are simply beyond your reach. So you simply try to answer the questions to the best of your ability, postponing any judgement about how the interview is going.

As we work to strengthen our focus and control, we must remember that such mastery is a gradual process. Until we've honed this skill, we might find solace in entrusting our anxieties about the unknown to a higher power or guiding wisdom, rather than endlessly dissecting them.

This shift in perspective may serve as a powerful ally in the ongoing battle against anxiety's relentless grip on our lives. We may never get rid of anxiety totally, but we can learn to live with it in harmony if we understand it better.

(This is an authored article. The views are personal. Ravi Singh is an author and an IRS officer.)

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2024-01-15T06:24:26Z dg43tfdfdgfd