There’s a lot of chatter these days about anxiety and the problems it can create for so many of us. In today’s post, Pete shares his story about anxiety, and about what he’s done over his career to get rid of its debilitating effects.
Learn more here about how we can help your team transform anxiety to confident presence.
I’m not a doctor, but I want to talk about anxiety. I used to struggle with it—a lot. It got in my way whenever I tried to present myself well or make a strong impression professionally. Over my years with Sage Presence, I’ve been practicing exactly what we teach our clients, and nothing has been more transformative for me than the power of appreciation.
When a presentation is coming up, it’s totally normal to get hit with nervousness. That wave of anxiety can feel awful. Most people resist it, try to push it down, or pretend it’s not there—and that resistance makes everything worse.
When I started applying appreciation to the feeling, something shifted. I began asking myself, “What can I appreciate about this feeling?” And little by little, answers started to show up.
I realized something surprising: there’s a lot of energy inside that anxious feeling. And in presentations, energy is good. Energy shows your audience that you care, that you’re engaged, that you’re present. Low energy communicates the opposite.
So instead of seeing anxiety as an enemy, I began to see it as raw power—a surge of energy I could use.
Over time, as the negative relationship I had with the feeling fell away, I noticed something: anxiety + appreciation = excitement.
Excitement is still a form of fear, but it’s the good kind—the kind that leans in, stays present, and enjoys the moment. And it all came from one simple practice:
Ask yourself: “What can I appreciate right now?”
No matter what you’re experiencing—stress, anticipation, uncertainty—you can always find something to appreciate. And when you do, it changes the emotional chemistry of the moment.
Try it. Ask the question. Feel what shifts. Appreciation is a powerful tool, and it’s available to you anytime you need it.
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