You cannot lead effectively while anxious. Relationships and lives crumble because of anxiety. Business deals go kaboom with an anxious negotiator. It’s hard to make any important decisions while anxious.
It suffices to say, anxiety sucks.
I’m sure you know of those worrying thoughts.
“I have to say something.”
“What do they think of me?”
“How am I going to handle my meeting tomorrow?”
“Why am I like this?”
“I’m afraid of doing that.”
… And so on. Truthfully, I hate these anxieties. Yet I must admit that I also have a tendency to feed my negativity. However, through German, I’ve been forced to confront rather than conform. And that’s been a beautifully difficult thing.
Yeah. As I’ve been learning my first foreign language, I’ve come away with a lot more than just grammar.
This semester, my second German class reinforced some important truths I embraced in my first semester, and I wanted to share three tips that have been instrumental in overcoming my anxious thoughts (after all, German and anxiety are so closely related).
So, without further ado, here are two tips to help you destroy your anxiety:
Don’t let embarrassment lead to anxiety.
To be honest, anyone who has taken and (seriously) engaged in a foreign language class will understand the experiences that go into this and the following tips.
Last semester, I had a wonderful professor for Elementary German I. She poured her all into me and the rest of my peers, and she was a helpful and kind person. Particularly, in the middle of the semester, she noticed that while I was excelling in my homework assignments, quizzes, and tests, I lacked in regards to in-class participation.
She sent me a message over our school’s system encouraging me to speak up and share more of what I knew with my classmates.
It was a simple act, but it was pivotal in my battle with overcoming social anxiety.
Over the next few days, I devoted my effort to answering every question I could. I still had hesitation, but I spoke. I walked into situations that made me more anxious. Throughout it, I was always less regretful when I said something instead of staying silent. It was a valuable lesson.
Flipping over to the second semester, I walked into my Elementary German II class with gusto. Plopping right onto the first row, front and center, I was more confident than ever about participating in class. Finally, an opportunity came for me to answer my professor’s question.
I completely messed up my German pronunciation, and I gave the wrong answer.
Moments afterward, before my brain could enter it’s anxious panicking mode, I realized something. Being embarrassed, or embarrassing yourself, is not the end of the world.
In my case, it didn’t matter at all. Once I spoke in class, everyone else also decided to speak. Their collective voices drowned out my incorrect answer, and I doubt anyone noticed I said the wrong thing.
Of course, I’ve also been in situations where I embarrassed myself and everyone knew it. Far from being a bad thing, these are moments you can turn into unforgettably hilarious memories. Embarrassment is only what you make of it. If you think of it as terrifying and soul-wrenching, you’re instilling a self-fulfilling prophecy. Don’t worry about embarrassing moments. Laugh along with others or spin it into something funnier!
Stay away from anxiety-driven over-analysis!
Can I say it again? Stay. Away. From. Over. Analysis. Also known as analysis paralysis and overthinking, this disease is fantastic at crippling decision-making.
I’m the type of person to make sure everything checks out. When I travel, I keep a checklist of what I bring so I can remember to take everything back. If I have a meeting, I’ll make sure to set reminders. I’ve went to sleep thinking about my agenda for the next day, and I’ll (literally, in the literal sense of literally) think about my upcoming day while I sleep. It’s wild.
This same habit creeps into my classroom behavior. I often think about what I’m going to say over and over. By the time I’m ready to answer, someone else has already shouted out “Apfel!” (English: Apple.)
Time and time again, this has proven to be both pointless and entirely detrimental.
Nine times out of ten, I’ll think of something to say or do, and when the time comes to say it or do it, nothing goes as I had planned for it to go in my head. Don’t bother to analyze past the surface level. Develop a simple plan at most and move forward. You’ll be a more flexible, peaceful person for it.
If you’re having trouble with stopping your analysis paralysis, check out this article on strategies to combat it.
So, are you going to be controlled by your anxieties? I pray not. Speaking in German class was one of the things I was anxious about, yet doing it was much more beneficial for me than I could’ve ever imagined. The last (extra) tip I’d give is face your anxieties. Don’t fear them.
Today’s recommendation is somewhat tangential to our primary topic. Learning a foreign language is hard. If you haven’t heard of it, go check out Duolingo (it’s on Android, iPhone, and the web). While it’s not best at teaching an entire language, it’s excellent for learning vocabulary.
QOTD: Would you like to learn a foreign language (or are you learning one)? If so, which one and why?
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