Most people have negative associations with nervousness, but being nervous can be a good thing, because it means that we are stepping outside our comfort zone and push ourselves to experience something new and exciting that can help us to improve ourself.
Feeling a little nervous, getting sweaty palms, a thumping chest and shaking hands is a normal and natural part of life. Everyone gets nervous at times and it actually dates back to our cavemen days when our nervous response helped us stay alert and vigilant when we were confronted with something unfamiliar or uncertain.
However, when our nerves play a trick on us and nervousness gets negative, it can actually hold us back and prevent us from raising ourselves to new heights. Nerves often come up when we are facing something that we’re unsure about or when we are facing potentially intimidating circumstances and we think about what we don’t want or what could go wrong. More often than not, nerves arise when we bring up the past and let previous mistakes and failures take over the present moment.
This means though that nerves are nothing more than our interpretation of circumstances and life, so they aren’t actually real, but rather a vivid imagination that we’ve created in our mind. The thing is though, that as human beings we aren’t always the most rational creatures and with that we let nerves get the best of us.
Here are our TOP 10 tips to overcome our nerves and calm our mind.
#1 Prepare
This is an obvious option to calm our nerves, but a lot of us forget it. Taking the time to prepare and doing it ahead of time rather than last minute, preparing well, without trying to be perfect can make all the difference to confidently and courageously attack any situation we may be nervous about. If you have an important meeting or presentation at work coming up, do your homework so you know the answers to what may come up, if you are going on a first date, think of a couple of interesting topics to bring up, in case the conversation comes to a halt.
#2 Focus on Your Best
Instead of focusing on all the things that could go wrong or all the things you may be lacking, focus on your best. What are your strengths? What are the character traits that get you to the top of your game? What makes you feel alive? Think about all the times when you were at your best and relish in how that feels, this way you bring everything good about yourself into the present moment and can let go of all the fears, doubts and nerves that trip you up.
#3 Develop Yourself
If you decide that your nerves are justified and there are certain areas of yourself that may need to improve, address those things immediately and start to learn, train and develop yourself in that particular field. We all have weaknesses, which is never the problem. But knowing where we can improve and not doing anything about it, that is the problem. So be proactive and develop yourself, take a class, read industry updates, search the internet. There is a wealth of information right at your fingertips, all you have to do is look for it and learn from it and you are well on your way to letting go of nervousness.
#4 Recognize Nervousness as Something Good
We tend to see nervousness as something negative, but reality is, nervousness comes with new challenges and opportunities that move us forward in life. If we didn’t feel nervous, we wouldn’t be pushing our boundaries. We’d stay comfortably inside our comfort zone without ever trying to get ahead and improve. Keep in mind, what may make you nervous today will be the new norm if you keep at it and choose to engage in the very thing that makes you nervous over and over again. Seek out new nerve-inducing opportunities on a regular basis and you will be able to push back nervousness in no time.
#5 Visualize the Positive
When we are nervous, we tend to focus on what could go wrong and we can easily get stuck in that negative visualization, mull it over in our mind continuously and get even more nervous in the process. Next time you have a situation coming up that you feel nervous about, allow yourself to see things in a positive light and visualize everything that can and will go right. In your mind’s eye see how great the situation will unfold, how happy you will feel and what a wonderful time you will have. Visualize that excellent outcome and believe that it has already happened. Seeing the situation with the desired result has an incredibly positive effect and will get you into a confident, positive, relaxed headspace.
#6 Slow Down and Breathe
Before you step into the situation that makes you nervous, take a few minutes, slow down and take a deep breath. When you walk to your important meeting or presentation, walk slowly, maybe even stop and stand still for a moment. It is imperative that you slow down your movements and then take a few deep, slow, rhythmic breaths through your nose. Make sure to breathe into your belly and simply focus on your in- and exhales for a minute or two. This will calm you down immediately and you will be able to think clearly again, draw your focus back to what is about to happen and confidently walk into the situation that you know you are going to ace.
#7 Exercise
One of the most important tools to calm our nerves is exercise. Keep in mind, exercise is a lot more than just doing something good for your body. It allows us to calm down our nerves because it stimulates the production of relaxing neurotransmitters while at the same time, reducing the stress hormone cortisol. If you do nothing else to control your nerves, exercising will have a profound effect on you that you can’t even imagine, yet.
#8 Stay Busy
Nervousness is something that grows overtime and we tend to get even more stressed out and nervous, when we allow ourselves to stay with our nervous thoughts and give them energy to grow. Don’t let yourself be taken over by these thoughts. Instead, whenever you feel like you are getting nervous, get busy and stay busy. Keep your mind occupied and busy. As long as you are choosing healthy activities, the mental break will reduce your stress, anxiety and nervousness.
#9 Sleep
Sleep deprivation has a profound effect on our nerves. In fact, continuous lack of sleep can cause a plethora of mental and physical symptoms that can lead to enormous amounts of stress and nervousness. Several studies show that you can significantly reduce anxiety and nervousness when you get a full night’s sleep of at least 7 to 8 hours. You don’t believe us? Try to get in more sleep and see if a full night’s rest for several days in a row reduces your nervousness.
#10 Tell Yourself You Are Excited
Instead of letting your nervous energy run wild and take over your life, harness it into something that can move you forward and help you. Whenever you feel nervousness bubble up, tell yourself that you are absolutely excited about the upcoming presentation, meeting, date… This helps you to change your perspective and at least for a short time, you can boost your openness and enthusiasm and forget your nervousness, so you can go into the situation feeling more calm and centered.
It starts with a little tremble within, then the pressure builds up, you don’t feel like yourself anymore and your inner calmness has left the building. Instead of backing down and cancel whatever plans you had, develop the habits and strategies to handle the challenge, deal with your nervousness and ultimately overcome it so you can move on with your life in a calmer emotional state and mindset.
OVERCOME YOUR NERVOUSNESS GREMLIN AND PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD
Joschi & Monika
#BoldNaked