There are laws in psychology too. And one of them (the Yerkes-Dodson law) is that the best results are achieved with an average level of motivation. At a low level, it is difficult to collect thoughts or strength, at a high level, a high level of anxiety blocks decision-making.
So, anxiety is directly related to the decision-making process, prompts a person to do something to resolve a potentially dangerous situation – a situation of uncertainty. But if a solution cannot be found for some reason, the level of anxiety begins to go off scale and spread to other situations, preventing the person from acting effectively.
Like any emotion, it can be conscious and unconscious. It can be especially difficult to grasp it when it becomes habitual, because all our habits are stored in our subconscious to save attention resources. How do you know that an emotion has gotten out of control and lost its functional role?
There are physiological and psychological manifestations of chronic anxiety (its consequences). The latter include shyness, timidity, indecision, difficulty in making decisions, obsessive thinking about what has happened or what is coming. Physiologically, anxiety can manifest itself as a rapid heartbeat, increased sweating, tics, stuttering, trembling or tightness of the voice, etc.
If anxiety is the feeling of having to make a decision in a situation of uncertainty, then confidence is the feeling of a decision. So what helps to tip the scales from anxiety to confidence?
The decision-making is facilitated by three characteristics of information about the current situation: completeness, reliability and consistency. These characteristics are not always achievable, so in some cases you just need (although it is very difficult) to look at the situation from a different angle (or simpler). There are a number of other, both physiological and psychological, ways to manage your anxiety. But to begin to control it, you need to be able to recognize this emotion. This is done by self-observation, but it will not be superfluous to turn to psychological tests, since the wording of questions and statements hides various options for its manifestation.
You can check the functional state of your alarm by passing the “Structured Alarm Test”, which consists of 37 statements. Perhaps this will be your first step towards mastering the art of self-regulation!