I find our emotions and feelings fascinating, yet perplexing at the same time…
Sometimes, we have the words to describe them. Other times, not.
Sometimes, the same emotion or feeling can be felt and experienced differently—not just by ourselves, but by others as well.
It makes this whole area of our life rather open to interpretation and personal experience.
Is this a good thing?
Bad thing?
Who knows? 🤷♂️
A recent example of this, for me, comes in the form of nervousness…
I may or may not have shared and spoken about this before (I’m unsure if I have).
But recently, I’ve experienced the difference between nervousness driven from anxiety, worry, and apprehension, and nervousness driven from excitement and growth…
Dare I say, the same feeling—based on my current level of emotional intelligence and understanding my own emotions—but experienced very differently!
It’s the same word that explains both, but nervousness from anxiety, worry, and apprehension feels restrictive and unpleasant…
Whereas nervousness from excitement and growth feels good and lifts me up.
So how can the same word on paper be used in both scenarios and be felt very differently? 🤨
This is what I find fascinating, yet perplexing at the same time.
So, what does this teach us?
I think it teaches us that understanding our emotions and feelings is not only a personal phenomenon of how we experience the world, but that they can be used as a self-awareness tool—to understand ourselves, to learn, and to grow.
This is not an area I’m super knowledgeable about.
But I find it super interesting.
Furthermore, I’ve realised that nervousness driven from anxiety, worry, and apprehension has hardly ever, at least from what I can remember, led to anything good or productive.
Can you honestly say that it has for you?! 🤨
It reminds me of how I used to get told not to worry, because our worries don’t change the thing that we are worried about.
Yet worrying seems to be part of the human experience, so what do we do about this?
The advice of “don’t worry” or “don’t feel anxious” and “let it go about this or that” I oftentimes feel is too simplistic…
Especially for us—and I count myself in this category of people—easily anxious, worried, and nervous folks.
I don’t usually like labels; however, when we’re talking about personality traits, I’m coming more to the belief that there are those of us who are more anxious, worried, and nervous about things than others…
And, like any trait, too much of it can potentially be an unhealthy thing!
I think this is most definitely true when we’re talking about this trait and related tendencies, and I’m realising more and more that it’s about learning to manage it in the best possible way and not let it run the show.
Recently, I shared how action is the antidote to anxiety, and this is one strategy that I‘ve found to be powerful in managing this trait, especially when it’s running overboard and controlling us and our lives.
If you missed that edition, read it here now to go deeper.
Overall, I think it’s vital that we develop a strategy for learning how to deal with this tendency, especially for overly anxious people.
I’m always on the lookout for new strategies that can help me manage this trait, and if you can relate, I would love to know what you do to keep your over-anxious traits and nervousness intact.
Reach me here. I would love to hear from you.
REMINDERS
1.
Every ending is the start of a new beginning.
2.
We need to be reminded more than we need to be taught.
3.
Our actions, not our past, define who we are.