First Step: Dealing with Anxiety and Panic:
The question that we ask ourselves when we face a challenge is “Will I do perfectly well in that meeting? And if the answer is “I will not”, then you get panic. Will you feel ashamed if you stumble in words or if you sound lacking confidence while presenting a topic in a meeting? If your answer is yes, then you will be anxious and panic. That is all because you demand too much from yourself “I must not have a block, I must not have a repetition, I must not look nervous, I must look calm all the time”. That way of thinking will push you against the wall. Of course, you will panic! You feel the anxiety and then you tell yourself “I must not feel the way I am feeling!”. You tell yourself that you must be perfectly undisturbed to convince others that you are perfect. The solution is to go against what you tell yourself about what is mentioned above. All your problems have to do with your demands. Instead, you can reinforce a new way of thinking which is more realistic and in tune with yourself “I would like to do well in that meeting, but if I do not, too bad. That would be inconvenient, but it will never define me as a person. I am a fallible person who sometimes fails to achieve his goals”. One of the main disadvantages of wanting to be perfect is that you will always be tense and anxious. With perfectionism you do not only try hard, but you try too hard, and you hardly enjoy what you are doing. Once you integrate that new way of thinking, then you can work on your concern or extreme concern rather than feeling anxious or panic.