Anxiety is described as the fear of an imagined situation or a condition that may not actually happen in a real life situation. The history of anxiety dates back to the days of Mark Twain who once remarked that he experienced a lot of troubles in his entire life (Ebert et al., 210). These troubles originated from the act of the reactions of imagined situations of which most of them never happened. Anxiety installs one with a condition that when somebody fails to, or by any means fails to achieve or perform to a particular extent as expected, they are judged as failures. Most of the time, nobody could like to be associated with failure. The result of the commotion brought about by the uncertainness of whether somebody will perform or not results into anxiety.
I suffer from anxiety because I always feel uneasy from performing certain tasks. When I was a child, I used to be troubled much by certain pressures. These pressures were as a result of my own setting. For instance, I used to accompany my fellow students during debate congregations. During these occasions, one is expected to talk or argue about the selected motion of the day. This would be whether one is for the motion, or against it. At times when it was about my turn to speak, that is exactly when my troubles begin. I could imagine the whole audience in the larger hall, looking and listening attentively to me as I speak. I could also imagine of the things that I have prepared to present on the floor. Are they really relevant to what is expected by the audience? Am I in really in the good frame of mind to effectively talk about the things that are before me? Will I present everything within the given time frame set? What is going to happen and what will be the reaction of the entire congregation? These questions were always in my head troubling me. As a result, I would stand out very shaky as I step towards the prime of the floor. The feeling of uneasiness, nervous, and apprehensive worry would overwhelm my stride resulting to sweating. I would utter my first words with fear of the imagined reaction of the audience. However, as I go on with my presentation, the whole task turns to be smooth to the end. The uneasiness gradually disappears with time till the end of my speech. The audience would clap to congratulate me as I go back to occupy my seat. Therefore, the whole fear was for nothing and the imagined situation that troubled me before the presentation never occurred. It was only due to anxiety.
My anxiousness is not only to a larger audience but also to various aspects of life. For example, when I think of various things of concern to my life, here, things like my career in future, reason behind my living, my freedom and even the perception about death, I become very worried. These situations plus certain events of choices that determine and have consequences to one’s life in future trigger an intrusive inferiority in me. These conditions of trouble that people undergo are associated with anxiety (Ebert et al., 212).
How I have coped with anxiety
Having been a nightmare all through my life up to then, I have identified and developed some mechanisms to address this condition of anxiety in me. The mechanisms have really helped me cope and deal with the inferiority and uneasy behaviors I often exhibit in my daily routine duties. These mechanisms include: time management, procrastination, perfectionism and maintaining good nutrition (Ebert et al., 216).
Procrastination is a situation where individuals view certain tasks as if their time limit will never reach. Therefore, such individuals weight until the last minute and then try everything they can to fix every task. Although some people could perform under such circumstances, many fall in the bracket of failure. This is because they are simply unable to beer with the uneasiness and anxiety of their intolerable deadline. I have effective dealt with procrastination in a more wisely manner. Even though I do things in a hurry way in most of the time, I usually prepare adequately enough to do a certain task before I find myself in the wrong situation of last minute rush. This has really helped me deal with the worrying and unpleasant situation associated with last minute rush. For easier management in a performance of a particular job, I usually fix myself in situations that maintain my morale and avoid distraction. I also avoid daydreaming, wishful thinking, and other conditions that kill time and expose one in to an anxiety condition. In some situations, I have tried to perfectionism as a strategy to prioritize on the currently job ahead of me so as I can complete in the right time. I have also been using physical exercises; engaging in moderate aerobics and light resistance program. Furthermore, I have always learned to maintain a good nutrition balance which is critical to stress and anxiety balance. These strategies have greatly assisted in my effort of eradicating anxiety.
How I would deal with anxiety better in the future
Although the coping strategies I have been using in my past have come out to be helpful, much still need to be done if I’ am to completely deal with anxiety. This is because it has come into my attention that relying on the same measures will not adequately address this hectic and troubling situation of anxiety. Therefore in the future I would make much use of the following strategies.
Learned optimism: this is a strategy suggested by Seligman. It advocate for one to learn being optimistic. Optimism is associated with various helpful mechanisms that could help me greatly in combating anxiety. These mechanisms include; well being benefits and positive expectations that come as a result of the optimistic efforts. However, to realize this I would deal much with causal attributions and other cognitions that answer the question, ‘why?’ in every event that I’ am engaged in. in doing this, I would structure specific goals, stable attributions with both internal and external dimensions to effectively deal with anxiety. I would apply all these elements in my academic performance, which into some extent as risen to be among the issues that bring an anxiety moments in my life.
Restoration: it is evident that human being bodies require time in order to restore and recharge. This is only achievable when one gets adequate sleep and sufficient relaxation. Relaxation and adequate sleep is necessary to anybody that needs to benefit from their daily endeavors. This is a vital aspect of reducing the extent of uneasiness which result into stress and anxiety. In the future, I would manage my time well to ensure that I get ample sleep and adequate relaxation sessions. For instance, I would categorically set like a period of between seven to eight hours of sleep during the night. On day time, I would make sure that I participate in a deep relaxation exercise for at least twenty minutes and twice a day. This would have a positive effect of reducing the amount of stress hormone level, together with stress associated situations like fatigue, blood pressure, insomnia and headaches. Meditation: this involves taking thorough or practicing deep relaxation strategies. Such activities in meditation include a daily routine of a severe physical practice for about twenty minutes and twice or thrice a day (Ebert et al., 219). Meditation is essential to eradication stress and anxiety symptoms, chronic pains and improves immune responses. This greatly a cerebral gray matter that helps slowing down age related cognitive functions. In most of my meditation routines, I would employ transcendental meditation, commonly exercised by many people with health related issues. This would, with no doubt, adequately deliver the desired response to stress hence reducing anxiety. This strategy is also useful in bringing the balance of the two cerebral hemispheres, that is, the right and left, which is essential to analytical and logical thinking mainly controlled by the left hemisphere. I would further make sure that my meditative status in updated and maintained. Here, I would make use of present centeredness; focusing up my mind with whatever task am doing, perceptual distortion; where I would avoid the loss of self during meditation and enhance self transcendence. These strategies will make me assured of combating anxiety effectively enough hence leading to the eradication of stress in my future endeavors.
Works Cited
Ebert, Michael H, and Robert D. Kerns. Behavioral and Psychopharmacologic Pain Management. Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.
