by Raymond Moody, M.A.
It’s crunch time in schools right now. As the semester winds down, there are papers to write, exams to prepare for, and end of semester presentations. My topic this semester was on memory enhancing drugs. I spent quite a long time putting the presentation together, reading a bunch of review articles, and then checking the FDA website to determine which of these medications have made it market (Sadly, not many advances have been made in recent years in the medications).
Normally I am pretty anxious about giving class presentations. I have irrational thoughts about the consequences of my performance. The content of these thoughts tends to revolve around the damage a low grade in the class will do to my reputation among my colleagues. In catastrophic terms, I think about being kicked out of my program and having spent the past four years working towards a degree that I will never receive. This semester was different. I was concerned about doing well but I didn’t experience the anxiety that I expected or it’s associated consequences but what was different.
I had more rational thoughts that I could use to replace my irrational thoughts. I did not want to perform poorly but their is a chance that I could. If that happened, what would I do? Would I just give up and take myself out of school before I got kicked out? No, I have worked hard and I would continue to fight for my place in the program. Let’s say my worse fear happened and I was kicked out of school. Would I just resign to failure and give up on all of my dreams. There is little doubt that an event like that would be upsetting and I might need some time to process this situation but eventually I would create new goals and I would pursue them. It may not be what I had hoped for when I started school but I am sure working towards other goals will bring me some happiness.
I currently have other goals in my life that I am working towards but it is easy to focus on a specific anxious thought in school situations. When I rehearse my irrational thoughts my focus narrows and I can lose sight of these other goals. With a narrow focus the consequences of certain outcomes can seem magnified. By rehearsing my rational beliefs I am able to be more aware of my other goals and any consequences that come to mind don’t seem as bad.
