Fears

Dealing with social and performance anxiety 

You know that feeling when adrenaline kicks in? Within seconds your pupils dilate, you feel your heart pounding in your chest, your muscles tighten, you start to sweat and your breathing accelerates. These are physical responses to fear, whether it be fear of rejection or fear of being eaten by a bear. It is your body’s way of making sure that your survival mechanism is activated rapidly, so you are able to respond to imminent danger within seconds. Needless to say, fear plays a very useful role in your daily life – It helps to keep you safe. But what if your body starts pumping the adrenaline when there is no real imminent danger? Daily life itself might turn into a matter of survival. 

When anxiety takes over 

Experiencing fear in specific situations is as normal and useful as you breathing in fresh air. What isn’t normal, however, is when that fear doesn’t disappear after a certain period of time. If that’s the case and you start to experience fear more often , you might be dealing with an anxiety disorder. , you might be dealing with an anxiety disorder. The most common anxiety disorders among students are related to social anxiety and performance anxiety. 

Social anxiety 

Nobody  likes to  receive criticism or embarrass themselves. But if on top of that you constantly feel as if others have a negative image of you, life gets a bit harder. , life gets a bit harder. Having conversations, meeting new people, being observed by others, performing in the presence of others or doing activities away from home become problematic. In fact, this type of anxiety can get so out of hand that you’ll start avoiding social situations as much as possible in order to prevent feeling overwhelmed. that you’ll start avoiding social situations as much as possible in order to prevent feeling overwhelmed. This is what we call social anxiety. 

Performance anxiety 

Afraid to fail your exams, presentations or other study assignments? And does this anxiety have you in its grasp? Rest assured, you are in good company Many students experience performance anxiety. It is often described as “fear about your ability to perform a specific task”. Like all types of fear and anxiety, performance anxiety can have a significant impact on your self-confidence and can eventually lead to feelings of depression. 

How to deal with these types of anxiety 

Different types of fear and anxiety require different types of solutions. A good start to dealing with your anxiety is to make sure you eat a healthy diet, get enough exercise and enough sleep. Also, try your best not to avoid your fear or feelings of anxiety. It often helps to take some pressure off yourself by talking to others about how you feel.  

In addition to all of this, you are most welcome to ask us for some help! As student coaches, we are always ready and willing to talk to you about your anxiety. Together we can take a deeper look into the possible cause(s) of your anxiety and come up with a plan on how to reduce it. and come up with a plan on how to reduce it. If during our sessions together it becomes apparent that specialist help will reap you more benefits, we will make sure that your transfer to a specialist will go with ease. And even during your sessions with a anxiety specialist, we will stick by your side throughout your recovery.