Anxiety is common experience for many persons and almost unknown to others. It occurs often in public speaking situations, but is found in many contexts. The athlete may be so taken by anxiety on a day that his performance seems unrelated to the excellence proved in practice. Even prominent persons in this or that field have experienced anxiety, unrelated to the real person. Winston Churchill, during most of his career, carried copies of his speeches on his person so to resort to reading if his anxiety robbed him of his memorized outline. Speakers have been known to begin an address, advance to a point, and in anxiety, stopped, began at the beginning, arrived near the point of previous blanking, and stopped again. Many persons in polls have acknowledged that anxiety in speaking was their major fear. They felt the fear of death was easily postponed for decades in the future, but this is today. In public speaking classes I have heard a number of students, more prepared than other speakers in the class, freeze – perhaps mutter a bit, and draw away in embarrassment, perhaps in despair. My interest at that point was to address the anxiety, encouraging better breathing, remind that the occasion can be turned into a human event, don’t give up, believe people wish you well, try again, use a personal approach, believe in your expression rights, prepare a bit differently with notes, and maintain your dignity, partly by admitting the problem – until the problem either passes or fades so that duty and effectiveness are not sacrificed.
Anxiety is a part of life. It feels awful. It is emotionally driven. Down deep we may feel unable or unworthy for the task before us, and we do not want to fail. Anxiety about grades causes students to cheat on exams. It makes poor parents, poor workers, and poor performers in anything. Anxiety results in poor driving of cars for persons who could well be good drivers. It takes away opportunities one would like to gain, takes away from life itself, and makes an unwanted interruption, made far more important than it ought to be. When it occurs it drives so deep an impression that it is likely remembered for life, perhaps believing it is the most unwanted experience of life. Fear of public speaking appears as first fear in polls.
Treatment for anxiety is wide ranging because the circumstances are also wide ranging and personalities vary in the factors. What assists one anxious person may exacerbate the problem with another. The person may become a self-enemy that intensifies the anxiety. Anxious persons need to believe there is no good use for anxiety, so to give some attention to educating oneself on the best treatment for their situation. On occasion the best treatment is to remove oneself from the contexts in which anxiety arises. That may be the best treatment, but the sacrifice of one’s contributions to life for self and others may be too great. Often the solution is in not taking oneself too seriously, to acknowledge the problem openly in a way that it is not used against them, as might be the case in a political situation – and press on. There are always crutches to be used, and when the person discovers that the interrupting factor does not belong to the context, they may overcome. Scripture informs us that we should be anxious for nothing. That is there is nothing we are able to do that requires anxiety – the kind we are addressing here. It is related to fear, and violates our lives. We feel we are something we are not. It may cause wounding of the faith that God will see us through every experience worthy of our lives. I recall it striking me three times in my life, and each time I rejected the failure that would have resulted if it had been sustained. We do have that kind of authority over our lives, if we have the inner resources to take over the machinery of our minds and emotions. In such moments humor may rescue. If that grace is not a part of our make-up, we can be wise enough to avoid the situations that trigger anxiety. In any event, we have recourse. By prayer, by contemplation based on information, by strength of will and a sense of our own idealism, anxiety can be put away, or weakened. A bit of it often stimulates us to move forward. It heightens production and interest. It has some drive to it, when harnessed. Wild on its own, it helps pull the load when well directed. Desire to do well, a good motivation, is a part of what may be a bit of anxiety. As is often the case in life, an enemy can be recruited to assist us in matters preferred. We can harness anxieties even use them for good. As is the case in most of our personal problems, a bit of self-research will help to manage our duties. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020