Teaching Moment
Anxiousness and excitement are “arousal congruent”, meaning that your body goes through the same things: your heart rate accelerates, you might feel butterflies, and cortisol surges. Excitement and calmness are both positive emotions, but because excitement and anxiousness are so similar in arousal level, we should get excited instead of trying to calm down when we’re nervous. Find out more about how anxious reappraisal can help you get over nervousness and enhance performance.