I suspect that if somebody had given me this advice when I was a student I would have disregarded it, but, well, this is why wisdom is notoriously impossible to communicate. Wisdom always either sounds glib, banal or irrelevant. Oh well:
Anxiety, aversion and stress diminish with exposure and repetition.
This is something that, the older I get, the more I wish I had had this tattooed onto my body as a teenager. This is true of not only doing the dishes and laundry, but also vigorous exercise, talking to strangers, changing baby diapers, public speaking in front of crowds, having difficult conversations, and tackling unfamiliar subject matters. All of these are things that always suck, for everyone, the first time, or the first several times. I used to distinctly hate doing all of these things, and to experience a strong aversion to doing them, and to avoid doing them until circumstances forced me. Now they are all things I don’t mind doing at all.
There may be “tricks” for metabolizing the anxiety of something like public speaking, but you ultimately don’t need tricks. You just need to keep doing the thing until you get used to it. One day you wake up and realize that it’s no longer a big deal.
What you really wanted from this answer was something that you could do today to help with your anxiety. The answer, then, is that if you really believe the (true) claim that simply doing the reps will make the anxiety go away, then the meta-anxiety you’re feeling now (which is in some sense anxiety about future anxiety) will go away.
doing the dishes and laundry, but also vigorous exercise, talking to strangers, changing baby diapers, public speaking in front of crowds, having difficult conversations, and tackling unfamiliar subject matters
Mmm. I’m with you on all the social ones (strangers, crowds, conversations etc.). I wasn’t remotely stressed the first time I changed a nappy- it wasn’t difficult at all. I don’t remember the first time I did dishes or laundry, but I imagine I was a small child and rather charmed by it all- certainly not stressed (nor have these things ever bothered me). I don’t know that I’ve ever engaged in vigorous exercise.
I suspect that if somebody had given me this advice when I was a student I would have disregarded it, but, well, this is why wisdom is notoriously impossible to communicate. Wisdom always either sounds glib, banal or irrelevant. Oh well:
Anxiety, aversion and stress diminish with exposure and repetition.
This is something that, the older I get, the more I wish I had had this tattooed onto my body as a teenager. This is true of not only doing the dishes and laundry, but also vigorous exercise, talking to strangers, changing baby diapers, public speaking in front of crowds, having difficult conversations, and tackling unfamiliar subject matters. All of these are things that always suck, for everyone, the first time, or the first several times. I used to distinctly hate doing all of these things, and to experience a strong aversion to doing them, and to avoid doing them until circumstances forced me. Now they are all things I don’t mind doing at all.
There may be “tricks” for metabolizing the anxiety of something like public speaking, but you ultimately don’t need tricks. You just need to keep doing the thing until you get used to it. One day you wake up and realize that it’s no longer a big deal.
What you really wanted from this answer was something that you could do today to help with your anxiety. The answer, then, is that if you really believe the (true) claim that simply doing the reps will make the anxiety go away, then the meta-anxiety you’re feeling now (which is in some sense anxiety about future anxiety) will go away.
Mmm. I’m with you on all the social ones (strangers, crowds, conversations etc.). I wasn’t remotely stressed the first time I changed a nappy- it wasn’t difficult at all. I don’t remember the first time I did dishes or laundry, but I imagine I was a small child and rather charmed by it all- certainly not stressed (nor have these things ever bothered me). I don’t know that I’ve ever engaged in vigorous exercise.