Fear And Anxiety, And Their Management Through Interpretation Frameworks
Fear and anxiety are two closely related psychological phenomena, and also relatively frequent; There are many people who, in their daily lives, encounter situations that overwhelm them emotionally through these types of experiences: exams, work stress, family problems, etc.
Of course, part of what explains anxiety and fear is out there, in the objective reality around us. But we cannot forget that, at the same time, this torrent of emotions has to do with the way in which we interpret reality, a subjective element. Given this, It is key to know how to manage our frameworks of interpretation of reality to, through them, also manage our emotions.
Why anxiety and fear depend on interpretive frameworks
It is clear that practically no one is free from feeling a lot of fear or anxiety from time to time; It is simply something that we cannot control 100%.
However, We are not condemned to suffer excess fear and anxiety ; Faced with the challenges of everyday life, we have room for maneuver to manage those unpleasant emotions in the best possible way and even more so, use them to our advantage to take action and achieve goals. Part of what makes this possible has to do with our ability to know how to interpret what happens to us through a constructive perspective and directed towards the goals that really matter to us, and not towards what we fear losing or not controlling.
And one of the most important findings of cognitive psychology is that depending on the network of concepts through which we “filter” information from the outside, we feel one way or another, and not only that, but rather we adopt one predisposition or another when dealing with the problems that affect us. That is, the cognitive schemes through which we interpret reality and our lives are manifested both in emotions and in our objective behavioral patterns, observable by others.
What role does executive coaching play in all this?
Executive coaching provides several tools with which we can build frameworks for interpreting reality capable of bringing us closer to our objectives ; specifically, to those goals that mean something to us, capable of stimulating us emotionally and intellectually.
This is very important when it comes to managing fear and anxiety, since these emotional phenomena are very likely to paralyze us due to the fear of doing something wrong, that goes beyond what “should be.” At the same time, Anxiety over the possibility of making a wrong move leads us to become obsessed with the idea of gathering all the information possible constantly, something that takes us to the limit psychologically and that also predisposes us to think a lot and do little, keeping us stagnant.
Silvia Guarnieri, Executive Coach and founding partner and Academic Director of the European Coaching School, explains it in these words:
“The obsessive search for information to try to understand what is happening is like the effect of breathing in much more than necessary, as occurs in anxiety. We fill ourselves with data thinking about finding a way out, an interpretation about what happens to us that gives us meaning. We are anxious because we want not to make mistakes. “We want to have the correct interpretation of things, even though we are going to make the most appropriate decision.”
“Through coaching we help internalize the idea that there is no correct interpretation of the facts, there is only an interpretation that is our own, and therefore we take responsibility for it. The job is not to tirelessly search for the correct or perfect explanation of what is happening, but rather the one that gives us power, that invites us to spread our wings, without giving too much importance to whether it is the fairest interpretation, since we know that the latter is simply not exists. All this assuming that we are almost certainly going to make mistakes or at least we are going to correct the path as many times as necessary until the expected result is achieved.”
Thus, executive coaching predisposes us to adopt an active attitude in the construction of frameworks for interpreting reality, without fear of not getting it perfect (which would paralyze us) and without assuming that we must “discover” what is the correct way of seeing things, since the latter implies that almost all points of view are inadequate. Through this process of personal development, we create a way of interpreting things that adapts to us, is functional for us, and gives us a way to manage emotions in a fluid and constructive way.
Are you interested in learning to manage emotions?
If you want to develop your skills related to anxiety management and other forms of emotional expression, You may be interested in the School of Emotions project, from the European School of Coaching This is an online training program based on weekly classes carried out through the synchronous classroom system (with live sessions), with presentations, exhibitions and practical exercises, with constant technical support. If you want to know more, access the European Coaching School page.
