Anxiety and Avoidance

Unfortunately, sometimes an athlete’s performance in a competition can be less about their capabilities and more about their high levels of anxiety brought on by the situation i.e. the pressure to perform, the large crowds, the large stadium… many things can create this level of anxiety. As a mindset coach my role is to help the athlete reduce this anxiety and help them concentrate more on their performance at the event. 

Sometimes this anxiety can lead to safety behaviours which in the short-term help reduce the anxiety, BUT unknowingly to the athlete help to sustain the anxiety long term as it re-enforces the danger in the individuals mind. This can be as simple as a ritual ‘I’ll do this, and I’ll be ok,’ or asking someone for reassurance that you are ‘ok,’ most people don’t even notice that they are performing these safety behaviours. However, sometimes this can lead to avoidance of the event or situation all together i.e. faking an injury, so they do not have to compete. 

So, what is anxiety? Anxiety is felt by everyone to protect us from danger, ‘it is not a bad thing,’ it keeps us ALIVE. However, in those who suffer from severe anxiety, the levels of ‘fear’ have fallen out of sync, i.e. competing in an event produces the same level of fear as skydiving from 30,000 feet. DON’T WORRY – THIS CAN BE FIXED! 

Everyone on the planet is susceptible to an anxiety; however, a person’s personality, with those who are competitive and with tendencies to ignore stress symptoms are at a higher risk. Why do we need anxiety, and what bodily sensations does it cause? Most people have heard of ‘Fight or Flight,’ this is the bodily responses to Fear i.e. confronted by a wild animal. The heart beats faster, blood pressure raises and blood to the organs decreases, and increasing sugar and fats to give the body energy to fight, the blood clotting function increases to prevent blood loss, and muscles tense in order to provide the body with strength and speed. These will cause shaking, relaxation of the bladder (needing the toilet), dilation of the pupils (to help see things clearly), dizziness and faint spells, and pale skin.  

Effective mindset coaching can help you re-balance your responses, so that they only activate for real FEAR and DANGER! 

Why is avoidance (Avoiding situations) so bad, it reduces your Anxiety symptoms right? Wrong, not only does it stop you from enjoying your life, it stops you from controlling your anxiety. Every time you avoid that situation, yes, your symptoms will reduce, but you are validating that it was DANGEROUS, SOMETHING BAD WOULD HAVE HAPPENED! By validating this, you are maintaining your Anxiety, the more you avoid, the hard it is each time to try and enter the situation. DO NOT AVOID – FACE YOUR ANXIETY.  

This ‘facing of anxiety’ can be done in a controlled manner though ‘graded exposure’ and if done correctly, can look something like the graph below. 

The above graph illustrates the process of Graded Exposure, the largest line showing the first time that the situation is entered; however, by the perhaps 8-10 times, you would expect to be moving along the bottom line. This would then allow you to compete, and focus more on the winning performance. 

If you need help with mindset coaching or want to learn more about graded exposure either drop me an email at james@jcperformancecoaching.co.uk or fill out the form on the website.