Comparing Anxiety and Excitement | Giving Anxiety Leadership | @caroline-cavanagh

And something that I'm aware of this week is talking to people about how anxiety and excitement are very, very similar emotions. How they feel in our body, the butterflies in the tummy, the racing heart, the sweaty palms are very common to both emotions, but we often interpret it as anxiety. And that's why we could argue about what that is. I think it's a social thing. But it's recognizing that quite often it is excitement, and it becomes a choice. I say to people, it's like you get to a junction. Left is anxiety, right is excitement. Choose which path you want to go down because they're equally as present, but they do lead to very, very different outcomes. And an easy way, or an easier way, to understand which of those emotions it really is, is just to stand up really still and Think about what the event is that you're considering. If you feel a slight sway forward, that's excitement. If your whole body is going, oh, I don't want to do this, that's anxiety. And sometimes it can be really, really subtle. But the love— the message that I give to all of those clients I've spoken to today, and I'd love to share with you today as well, is when you feel those physical feelings, Don't just assume it's anxiety. Check in with yourself. Could it be that you're actually excited and you're about to go on an adventure? And when you position it in that way, your experience is going to be very, very different.