Welcome to episode 18 of The Executive Edge, the podcast that talks about skills in life and business!
Today, I have Sherianna Boyle as my guest.
Sherianna shares with me how her experiences have emphasised the importance of understanding, and handling anxiety.
She starts by explaining her own journey with this and how her book came about. Sherianna has in fact written 7 books including one on mastering anxiety for young people. This is an important skill I believe as it’s often in these formative years that events might feel overwhelming, but we may not have the tools to handle them. Situations can quickly become an issue and if we don’t feel equipped, anxiety seems to lead from that.
What does she think is best?
Sherianna teaches that whilst avoiding pain might seem a constructive way to cope initially, all we are doing ultimately is putting off the inevitable. Learning to respect and appreciate the role our emotions play in life and how to process them, is a better and more constructive way to slowly reduce the anxiety we are feeling. My own experience of this taught me, and indeed the people I coach, that we often over-think situations and feel stuck in them. It’s tempting to move away from them to reduce the discomfort analysing them makes us feel, but this isn’t actually a solution.
What is the solution?
Sherianna feels we need to get clear on our intention to break the pattern or habit we’re in of moving ‘away’ from a situation. Instead, we need to move towards it. In this way we learn to respect its place and what it might be trying to teach us. Processing big events may seem daunting but we can do it and allow for the emotions they make us feel. She has a 7 step process she describes both in the podcast, and in her book.
There is no doubt experiencing anxiety can be stressful, and that stress can make us anxious. So, we might need to understand our emotions better and what they’re trying to tell us. Just because we feel this doesn’t mean we can’t master it though. Thoughts seem to lead to emotions and in turn to strong physical tension and discomfort. Releasing this tension alone can help so there’s a lot we can do
You can hear more about Sherianna’s tips on handling anxiety in this week’s podcast.
