1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 Here's a three-minute, quick tip where we break down a mental health or personal development topic in 180 seconds to help you shift or reframe your perspective. Today’s topic is the relationship between anxiety and excitement and how you can actually sometimes use excitement to help counteract the effects of stress in situations where you need to perform.&amp;nbsp; Both anxiety and excitement can feel very similar. That’s because they stimulate similar responses in your brain and overall nervous system.&amp;nbsp; However, while these two states can feel very similar, they’re actually different in the types of thoughts that they generate.&amp;nbsp; Anxiety, for example, wants to keep you safe so it might tell you all the things that could go wrong, or how you could embarrass yourself or how you might fail.&amp;nbsp; Excitement on the other hand will frame the situation as something to look forward to or to move toward. For example, excitement can sound like “I’ve got this.”&amp;nbsp; “This is going to be so much fun.” Or, “I’m excited to see how this will work out.”&amp;nbsp; So the trick to using excitement to help counteract anxiety is to first notice whether your viewing the situation through a more fear-based lens or a more optimistic, excited lens, and if it happens to be the former, try and lean more into excitement by choosing thoughts that are more motivational and uplifting and by framing the situation as an opportunity.&amp;nbsp; Research cited:&amp;nbsp;https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035325 *** Want to reach out, be a guest or have a question? Contact&amp;nbsp;email@achangeinstory.com. *Disclaimer: The information contained in this episode is for the sole purpose of being informative and is not considered complete. It should not replace consultation with a qualified professional. A Change in Story https://sites.libsyn.com/519668 <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/40497040/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/item/40497040