What is going on?????
Let’s give you an example…
You have to deliver a presentation to your company’s stakeholders on how your great work has made them heaps of money. (Hey, go you by the way.) Yet you’re sitting at your computer the night before the presentation, and your brain starts at you.
They’re going to ask why I didn’t make them MORE money. What will I say?
Should I call in sick and delay the presentation so I can prepare more?
Well I’m clearly going to get fired after this. It’s time to look for a new job.
It doesn’t matter that you’ve done this a billion times before and you know your stuff – your brain is convinced otherwise.
Then there are the physical effects. You get an embarrassing shake in your voice during the presentation. Your palms get sweaty. Your mouth gets dry.
And even afterwards, your mind might go over and over what you said, what they thought etc etc. Exhausting.
So what’s the deal with anxiety?
Anxiety: A Sophisticated Defence Mechanism
Freaking out about a 10-minute presentation might seem silly. But it’s actually a highly evolved defence mechanism your brain employs to protect you against something that feels a lot like ‘danger’.
Here’s what’s actually structurally happening in your brain when you experience anxiety.
Your amygdala is activated by perceived danger
A role that the amygdala can play is processing our emotions and memories associated with fear/danger. So when you detect danger (i.e. that potentially embarrassing/humiliating presentation) it links to your autonomic nervous system to prepare you to fight, flee/avoid, freeze or fawn.
Your brain kicks into ‘protection’ mode
When your amygdala perceives danger, you may even logically know you’re not at risk, but your brain can tell you otherwise. It might want to protect you from physical danger, or even ‘dangerous’ feelings like:
- Embarrassment
- Vulnerability
- Frustration
- Shame
- Rejection
And a whole host of other things.
The frontal part of the brain shutting off/lack of functioning
This is the area of the brain responsible for making rational decisions. When it’s involuntarily switched off or not functioning so well by an anxious response, you might start jumping to conclusions – like that you’re about to be fired.
Often anxiety can be anything but rational. But as you can see, and there’s often a reason it happens!
Thankfully there are some simple self-regulation techniques you can try. But if anxiety impacts your life regularly, it may be useful to talk to a psychologist and get some tailored techniques to help you manage or better understand it.