First Ladies and performance anxiety
December 31st, 2009
This is the third in a series of posts sparked by an article on Michelle Obama, written by Lynn Sweet, about a talk Mrs. Obama had with high school students, telling them about her struggles with test anxiety.
In the article, Ms. Sweet also referenced two other First Ladies and their performance anxiety. For Laura Bush it was about public speaking. Hillary Clinton recalled that at age 4 she came home crying to her mother because a girl was pushing her around. Her mother taught her to stand up for herself: “My mother was afraid that if I gave in to my fears, it would set a pattern for the rest of my life.”
That’s what we can learn from these great examples: when we give into our fears, and not just during test preparation, we set patterns, a k a habits — of backing down and backing away. Our loss of confidence and feelings of self-doubt contribute to physical tension and we become distracted from our goals. These can become life-long patterns, where we end up achieving much less than we ought to (than we are really capable of), all because of performance anxiety. Each of the First Ladies learned new patterns and went on to achieve great things.
Performance anxiety is a pattern built on habits: physical tension, self-doubt, distraction. If you want to reverse the pattern you learn the tools to create a helpful, growth-ful, empowering pattern. You learn to be calm, confident and focused. Remember the 3 legged stool (Chapter 3 in my book).
Here’s the link to the article. And please, send in your stories about your own patterns and how you are turning them around.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/18/what-made-michelle-obama-anxious-and-nervous/
As one year makes way for another my dream is that all students cultivate their highest, brightest, shining selves. May they all learn to be calm, confident and focused, and become active contributing citizens to a just, peaceful and thriving world.
