On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were… Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you” (Jn 20:19).

I’ve been alive over half a century, and only recently learned of “anxiety reappraisal.” It all began with an Instagram reel, which my sister, Helena, shared with me, featuring motivational speaker, Melanie Robbins. Mel explains that people who, in a situation that made them nervous, were taught to simply say “I’m so excited,” outperformed people who had no awareness of this tool.¹

My mind immediately went back a few decades to those crushingly disappointing violin recitals in which a year’s worth of practicing the same pieces thousands of times went out the window with an uncontrollably quivering bow! Responding to Helena, she replied, “I know!! It would have made such a difference in my piano exams, among other things.”

I was intrigued. A little research pointed to the “Keep Calm and Carry On” slogan dating back to World War II that resurfaced and went viral sixty years later. Nervousness before making a speech or an important meeting was to be mitigated by calming oneself down. Trying to decrease anxious feelings, however, is difficult, since anxiety is characterized by high arousal, and calmness is a low arousal state. Not only are anxiety suppression or acceptance ineffective, they can actually lead to a paradoxical increase in the concealed emotion!² Yup!! My trembling bow attested to this.

More recent studies taking chemical, physiological and neurological factors into consideration have perceived the congruence between anxiety and excitement – both are high arousal states. The difference, of course, is that “anxiety is characterized by negative appraisal, uncertainty and a lack of control, whereas excitement is characterized by positive appraisal and optimism.”³ As Mel Robbins puts it,

“If you get too nervous and you start to get too worked up and your thoughts start to spin and your body stays in a fight or flight state, your brain releases cortisol, and cortisol impacts your brain’s ability to focus. So all your preparation goes out the window because you just blew it with the cortisol in your brain. When you say I’m excited even if you feel nervous, your brain buys it and doesn’t release cortisol, which allows you to focus on what you need to do.”⁴

Wow! So I’ve been trying this out. In fact, it has become my “Pentecost practice” for this year. It’s not uncommon for me, actually, to get up in the morning and feel some vague foreboding about what lies ahead. Relatively challenging tasks, yet undone, loom larger than life, and my energy for them seems to drain into procrastination before I’ve even taken a first step! Catching my anxiety in the act, however, and changing my internal messaging to “I’m excited about…” is making a world of difference! I feel more engaged, more present in my life, more ready to share whatever I can – well – more excited!