Anxious? Try Laughing at Life.
Imagine this:
You’re in college. You’re sitting outside at a concrete table, staring at your laptop and
reading for class. It’s warm, but not too warm because there’s this perfect little breeze.
You hear the faint pitter-patter of a fountain nearby. And then—
A stampede.
Out of your periphery, behind your laptop—a banana clumsily running for its life,
panting, intermittently looking back to make sure it’s actually getting away from the large
furry ape that’s chasing it.
“Noooooo!” echoes the banana, but this only seems to egg on the hungry ape who
speeds up.
“I’m gunna getchu.”
–
What you just read is not ‘based on a true story,’ it isn’t ‘inspired by a true story’—it is a
true story. Except, well, the fact that the banana and the ape were university students in
costume.
I must have left out that detail.
Anyway, I started this blog post with the personal story of the time I witnessed a
calamity on campus because I use it as an analogy while working with people who are
struggling with anxiety (especially social anxiety). I, for one, would have been anxious
about running around like an idiot while wearing a silly banana costume. And I know I
don’t stand alone in that feeling.
It’s natural to worry about how others will perceive you. But what if I told you that that
very banana and that very ape made my day as a college student whose intent was to
be serious and study? I mean, I’m still talking about them now–16 years later–aren’t I?
You see, the problem with anxiety is that it can sometimes be overkill. Our brain tells us
it makes sense to be anxious because others may negatively evaluate us or because
something terrible might happen. But what if our brain is wrong in some of those
moments?
We may not be able to turn off that instinct to feel anxious, but changing our perspective
and our behavior can really make all the difference. And making the conscious decision
to laugh anxiety straight in the face and to take potentially embarrassing moments less
seriously—that’s where the real power lies. So go put on that banana costume and
make a fool of yourself—that is, if you dare.
