FOUR anti-anxiety techniques for strategically using your anxiety. (V.E.M.A)
1.VALIDATE: Validate (accept) your feeling.
“I am really anxious right now.”
The point here is that your anxiety is telling you that you are facing a big challenge and must prepare for it. Accepting (validating) your feeling opens you up to the opportunity to examine your anxiety and benefit from its message.
2.EXAMINE: Use your anxiety as a wake-up call to examine the “reality” of the threat.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What is the “threat” that I’m facing?
In the above example, the threat is the slow internet connection which was preventing my colleague from uploading his information. The threat was real. It was not catastrophic.
You may discover that there you have misunderstood or misperceived the situation and there is no threat.
- How important is for me to eliminate the threat and get the “job” done?
If the “job” is very important, then you will need to figure out a plan of action. If the “job” is not really that important, then choose to let the feeling go and move on.
- What do I need now in terms of skills and knowledge, what resources do I have that I can call upon to move forward, or what do I need to do to get the resources I need?
My colleague needed a network connection. With his focus on solutions, he realized that he could borrow a network at a friend’s house or Starbucks.
The point is that you have knowledge and resources upon which you can draw to help you move forward.
Your anxiety, if not used as a tool, can distract you from identifying these resources.
3. MOTIVATE
Use your anxiety as a motivator or energizer to charge up your creative juices and push you to making plans to use the resources you have or will develop.
“I can use all this nervous energy as motivation to get this “project” back on track.”
4. ACT
Take action, NOW.
Answer these four questions, determine where you need to change, get the information you need, and move forward in strategically applying your anxiety.
- I validate my feelings… Yes / No
- I examine the “reality” of the threat that might exist.. Yes / No
- I use my anxiety as a motivator.. Yes / No
- I am taking action on what I have learned… Yes / No
I look forward to your comments.