Managing Presentation Anxiety: My Personal Story
I have struggled with anxiety since my early teenage years. And horrifyingly for me, many of my symptoms were the physical ones; flushed face, stumbling over my words, trembling and dripping with sweat - all the fun stuff. Thankfully, my anxiety has come on leaps and bounds since then by working on many aspects in my life, both physical and emotional (more on this in a future post). Even so, anxiety still creeps in every now and again and for me, the times when it really hits is those moments where I feel I’m being watched or have to present myself…
…So imagine my brain’s response when I said yes to doing a cooking demo in front of a big festival audience (:
An old version of me would have instantly said no, or said yes and pulled out last-minute when the fear really set in. I’d be lying if I said the thought didn’t cross my mind - but hey, I’m only human. But I refuse to let anxiety rule my life, and instead chose to implement the tricks and tools I’d learnt throughout my anxiety journey to manage the fear and present an amazing cooking demo I knew I would be proud of!
In this post, I’d like to share some of those tips with you in the hope that you’ll be able to adopt some of them for yourself in times of high anxiety. Some were pre-game steps, some were employed on the big day. And remember, while each of these tips will support your anxiety in isolation to an extent, the more you can build into your life, on a day-to-day basis, the bigger impact they’ll have.
Here are 7 ways I managed my presentation anxiety…
Brain fuel
You knew I’d be starting with this one ;) Filling my plate with brain-supportive foods in the run up to the demo was a gamechanger. Colourful, fibre-rich fruits and vegetables, oily fish, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates are the cornerstone of an anti-anxiety diet, so I made sure to really focus on getting the good stuff in prior and during to the event. On the morning of, I ate a breakfast rich in protein and healthy fats to keep my blood sugar stable, which helps to prevent any blood sugar-related jitters and ensure my energy levels remained constant.
Sans alcohol
Although I was at a festival, I knew consuming a lot of alcohol was not going to support my goals for the weekend. Alcohol negatively impacts blood sugar and as a depressant, can increase anxiety too. I know from personal experience that in times of high anxiety, alcohol is not my friend, so I instead stuck to flavoured waters and tea. As a bonus, this meant I stayed super hydrated, which is a win-win for brain health!
Cycle Syncing
I’ve been tracking my menstrual cycle for years so am pretty clued up as to which phase I’m in at all times, meaning I can plan and adjust my lifestyle around it to suit and get the best out of myself. As it happens, I was approaching ovulation at the time of the festival meaning I was feeling at my most energetic and sociable compared to other times of the month. I appreciate you can’t always plan events around your cycle but if you can, do - it’ll make the world of difference. As a side note, if I was on my period during this time, I’d be sure to really focus on nourishment, self-care and rest in the run-up to the event to ensure I was feeling my best for the big day.
Reframing
This is a constant, ever-evolving step to managing anxiety, but it’s incredibly helpful. Over the weekend, I worked on reframing any anxious thoughts and feelings into ones of joy and excitement, to re-train my brain into feeling excited for the demo! As an example, every time I felt an anxious knot in my stomach, rather than thinking ‘oh god I’m so nervous’ I changed my thought pattern to ‘Eeee I’m so excited!’. This process takes times and patience, but it really does help - give it a go!
A little magic…
This step may be controversial and won’t be for everyone. I also advise you to thoroughly do your research on the topic yourself and please note I am not condoning anything etc. but I have been microdosing 🍄 for over a year now and it has made a huge positive impact on my mental health and outlook on life, which in turn has improved my anxiety. On the day, I took a small microdose to ground and recentre myself. If you’d like to chat more about this, drop me a message :)
Prep!
Anyone who has dealt with situational-based anxiety will know how useful and terrifying prep can be. It’s terrifying because it forces you to mentally be in the situation that’s making you feel anxious. I get it. But this can actually be a good thing - try to see it like a trial run in a safe space. Practice reframing your thoughts as you go along. Prepping for the event will also help you to feel prepared and have a mental plan for whatever it is you’re going into, which can help to calm anxiety on the day. For me, I wrote a list of things I needed to take with me and a step-by-step of what I’d be doing, and ran through it in my head a few times. Even though I knew the recipe, I also knew how thoughts can get scrambled when anxiety hits, so having a list to refer back to while on stage gave me a lot of peace of mind. Prep in whatever way feels good for you, and try your best not to avoid it!
Grounding
Finally, grounding (or earthing) has been another tool which has improved my mental health no end. It’s super simple - all you need to do is walk/be barefoot on natural ground, such as grass or sand. The theory is that grounding helps to rebalance the electrical system in the body by absorbing free electrons from the earth, reducing free radical damage and inflammation, which has a load of body-wide health benefits. I ground whenever and wherever I can and spend most of my time barefoot. On a spiritual level, feeling my feet connected to the earth brings a sense of calm, connection and stability, which is vital during times of high anxiety. I even did my demo barefoot!
So there you go, these are some of the lifestyle techniques that I put into place before and during my cooking demo to reduce anxious thoughts and ensured I performed at my best. There are more, little things that I weave into the everyday, but I hope this gives you a few ideas to get started. And in case you’re wondering, the demo was a huge success!
If you’d like to get a handle on your thoughts in order to live the full life your dream of without anxiety holding you back, I highly suggest you try incorporating some of these techniques. As always, I’m here to help, so please reach out if you’d like any support or further information :)
Shelley x
