Are You Struggling With Nervous Energy?
You wake up to the alarm beeping erratically, signalling the big day ahead. Brushing your teeth, dressing up, eating breakfast, travelling to the office – every single task goes just as you planned. But, minutes or, perhaps, an hour before your presentation at the big conference, something strange starts stirring in your body. You suddenly feel edgy, discomfort, or have a strong desire to do something else – perhaps you even want to run away! In short, you are feeling overwhelmed. Full of nervous energy.
If you find these feelings of nervous energy relatable then you have experienced an elevated or anxious mood. Although both are similar, there exists a fine line between the two:
- Elevated Mood – feeling propelled to do something.
- Anxious Mood – feelings of discomfort, nausea, and edgy.
It is very common and normal to go through these feelings before public speaking and presentations. At this particular time, you are full of nervous energy and likely to be experiencing an emotional imbalance. Consequently, you feel more anxious or elevated than anything else. Catering to this imbalance instead of suppressing it can help you become more relaxed and give an outstanding presentation!
Full of Nervous Energy?
Below, we have articulated some of the best ways to make this nervous energy effective and productive. Read more to unravel!
1. Go for a Walk
Engaging yourself in something physical can help ease those discomforting feelings and thoughts. If you have considerable time at hand, you can go for a walk in nature.
The air and natural environment can refresh your mind. Plus, the physical activity itself can fulfil the urge to move and do something.
2. Meditate & Exercise
Before you begin a presentation, dedicate yourself some time to meditate and exercise to channel that nervous energy positively. Now, if you think meditation only means sitting cross-legged and chanting, then you may be wrong.
Mindfulness is a meditation type that revolves around bringing yourself to the present and increasing awareness without being biased. This particular practice pushes you to the present moment and trains you to be mindful of your surroundings without judging them.
Studies tell that people who do mindful meditation experience an instant reduction in worrying thoughts. It helps establish feelings of calm, balance, and focus.
Amazingly, you don’t require an isolated place, yoga mats, or chants to do this quick and easy meditation. Here is a simple mindful meditation exercise that you can practice while sitting in the conference too:
- Sit comfortably, though not so comfortably that you fall asleep.
- Channel your thoughts and awareness of your inner self. Focus on simple things like breathing.
- Doing so, you might experience anxious and self-judging thoughts. However, do not suppress them. Instead, allow them to rise and pass so that you learn to be okay around discomforting thoughts.
- Once you feel relaxed, your meditation is complete.
3. Refresh Yourself
Another effective way to use that nervous energy is to take some time away to cleanse and refresh. You can take a 5-minutes bathroom break and spend it pampering yourself.
Perhaps, wash your face, brush your hair, or simply apply some moisturiser. These little tasks can help you focus on something else instead of the presentation. Hence, distracting your thoughts and reducing those edgy feelings.
Besides, these little yet solitary acts make us feel cared for and mentally organised. Thus, we feel more relaxed and happy in the situation.
4. Address Those Boring Tasks
A flooded inbox can also contribute to feeling too much nervous energy. You might have trained your eyes to follow the top most important ones. But at the back of your mind, that bold unread stack of emails will keep buzzing like a live example of how you’re failing to keep up.
Well, while this may contribute to your nervous energy, it is also an excellent source of relieving the stress and calming you down. How so? Discover it yourself the next time you feel full of nervous energy.
Just revisit your inbox and invest 10- 15 minutes in deleting the unnecessary emails. Make a separate folder for the important ones and categorise the others as well. Even if you’ve got hundreds and thousands of emails, you can at least categorise and assemble a few. The very act will bring you a sense of confidence, control, and command.
5. Learn Something New
Sitting in the seat, waiting for your turn to speak. Perhaps, the most effective way to utilise this excess, or too much, nervous energy is to learn something new. You can download an educational/informational application on your phone. Or, you can simply open the browser to search for something new.
Engaging yourself in learning. Lighting up your curiosity, and fulfilling your cravings for getting answers about the unknown can help you feel more relaxed. The process can distract your current nervous thoughts and channel them into productivity.
It can even elevate your mood and reduce anxiety. Also, you can learn some new statistics or information to use in your oral presentation.
6. Confront Your Fears
Overcoming your shyness at work, fighting that nervous energy before public speaking – these tasks feel impossible to conquer at the moment. However, it is in these moments that we can stretch and grow, explore our inner self, and reflect.
Stuttering, counter-arguments, humiliations-there can be thousands of different fears that can be triggering that discomforting nervous energy. Yet by using the tiniest of courage, one can confront all those fears and eradicate them forever at that moment.
Some people may be feeling full of nervous energy due to stress and other clinical issues. But instead of suppression, one can make use of a stress reliever to eliminate the nervous feelings.
Conclusion
Nervousness sparks from shyness. Some of you may consider the two almost synonymous. But there’s a fine line between the two. Shyness is the root cause. If relieved, can suppress or eradicate feelings of nervousness when, currently, you have no choice but to face it.
Only 10 per cent of us have in-born shyness, the rest have unfortunately learned this over time, which technically means we can unlearn it too. And for growth, we, most preferably, should!
So, with the hacks mentioned above, get going. Good luck!
