How do you overcome anxiety when on-air?
That was tough. I learned that breathing helps. Not to trivialize the obvious here, but it made a huge difference. I had to consciously become more consistently aware, sometimes multiple times during a recording, that I wasn't relaxed. I could see myself in the video conversation and I didn't look relaxed. I learned that if I didn't look relaxed, Contributors might match my anxiety too. That created some awful conversation atmospherics. Best case scenario, I was calm, clear, and present. To do that, I had to remember to breathe. That's the easy news. The more difficult bit of news to swallow for me was realizing that my anxiety is a part of who I am. Learning that I couldn't get rid of my anxiety, but that I could learn to control it; to anticipate it. Then ultimately, once I realized that I could better use my anxiety to fuel my prep work or research prior to a conversation, I was able to lower my stress level too because I felt better prepared and more confident. However you work to overcome your anxiety on- or off- air, join us every Monday morning at 9 AM on #TransactingValuePodcast where perspectives meet values.
