Have you ever had to make a public announcement, a speech or presentation and woken up feeling sick at the thought of it? Some call it stage fright but the technical term is performance anxiety.
The relatively harmless symptoms can make your life miserable – sweaty palms, a frequent need of the toilet, heart palpitations and a general feeling of dread.
You start to label yourself a failure, you second guess your worth and your inner mind starts reeling off all your short comings.
Anxiety and depression are medical conditions which should be treated by a doctor. There are medications that can help you sleep, calm your nerves and cope with stress’. But in the same way that curing presentation nerves come from adequate preparation, resolving performance anxiety come from both mental and physical preparation.
Everyone needs a moment of panic to motivate them, so when you find yourself stressing, take a moment to remind yourself that you feel this because you are passionate about what you are going to do.
A good rule of thumb is 1{bb486053ce69e1d037420e07fda4dd20291ab681957aa23bed5f90f1c19ae80b} panic for 99{bb486053ce69e1d037420e07fda4dd20291ab681957aa23bed5f90f1c19ae80b} hard work and preparation.
Avoidance Mode
The biggest disadvantage of performance anxiety is that you feel bad about something thus you avoid preparations. People feel so awful that they distract themselves with anything but the task at hand.
Typically, playing online games, talking on the phone, cleaning, organising, shopping, cooking, watching TV, and reading books are the most popular distractions.
This can create a vicious cycle – the more you avoid, the more stressed you will become as the even draws nearer. You may become even more avoidant that previously.
Clinical hypnosis can reduce and even remove this state of panic by training the unconscious mind to enable you to achieve. The techniques apply to those suffering exam nerves, work based anxiety, sports and competitive anxieties, or any time where the spotlight is on you. Several professionals including lawyers, corporate leaders, athletes and performers use hypnosis to help them focus.
Breathe in, Breathe out
A hypnotherapist will generally teach you how to perform breathing exercise, which you can do yourself outside of the session. They are easy to do and take just a couple of minutes.
They will also teach you how to change your inner dialogue so that your inner voice becomes a source of positivity and encouraging words.
The minute you stop stressing your mind clears allowing you to think clearly and productively once again. This is when the hypnotherapist will speak directly to your unconscious mind helping to refocus on behaviours that will help you succeed.
Many feel rejuvenated and confident after treatment because the resistance holding them back has melted away to positive thoughts and actions.
The hypnotherapist will also help you to focus on how you feel after completing the task that made you anxious and use these positive emotions to boost motivation and confidence.