Visualisation has been an invaluable tool for me throughout my career, helping me enormously in high-pressure or stress situations. In particular, I used to struggle with public speaking engagements, interviews, or difficult conversations in a professional setting, to the extent that I often experienced a physical reaction to these stressors; I became hyper-conscious of my heart beat, and vividly felt the sensation of my blood flowing through my body. This physical response became so intense, I had visible red ‘blotches’ or hives break out across my arms, chest and neck.
These hives became a real obstacle for me, as even though I was able to look calm, speak with confidence and collect myself in these scenarios, I felt the visible, physical reaction gave away the anxiety I felt on the inside. This became such a common occurrence for me I started wearing high-necked shirts and scarves to speaking events and engagements, trying to hide the stress I was feeling. The worry that the ‘blotches’ would be visible ended up adding to my existing worry, perpetuating a vicious cycle that made these incredible opportunities a source of constant dread.
There was one particular important webinar on which I was speaking, and I remember thinking weeks before that I knew I was going to have this reaction and it was going to cause problems for me at this event. I worked with a coach who helped me with visualisation techniques around this. A month before the webinar, I began putting on the same clothes I knew I would wear on the day, sitting in the chair I was going to sit in, and imagining myself asking the questions I had planned to ask. The visualisation was so realistic the hives appeared physically when I was sitting at my desk, alone, weeks before the event! However, by physically going through the motions of the day itself, I was able to reframe how I thought about these moments of stress.
Rather than fear or dread the hives appearing on the day, I decided that I was going to expect them, positively reframing them as being a part of the experience, rather than an ‘intruder’ that was going to disrupt the day. The more I visualised them, welcomed them, and saw them appearing on the day of the webinar, the less I felt them appear as my worry about the event subsided. On the day of the webinar, I expected them to appear and was prepared to deal with them, however they didn’t arrive at all!
I still occasionally experience this physical reaction to public speaking or difficult conversations, however these days this is only when I haven’t gone through the process of physically visualising and preparing myself for the situation. Visualisation has changed the way my body physically reacts to stressful situations, and I’ll always be really grateful for having found an incredibly effective way to navigate them!