It is important that we are now discussing anxiety more than ever before. Like a number of topics, this one was to be kept private because it was their problem alone. We, the people, felt anxiety, we all knew this. We were expected to tough it out alone to get through or get right, before we could rejoin the main stream or until the suffering could no longer be endured.

I have seen people deal with the anxiety such as the experience that Olympic gymnast Simone Biles has shared, and I personally know what she meant when stating she had the “twisties”.

“Twisties” is an example of an anxiety or fear with a specific stimulus. Mine took place when I was trying to put a full twisting back flip into my gymnastics floor routine, which by the way would have helped me qualify for the state competition.

After much practice on the crash pads with the coach spotting me on the turn, I was expected to make a final run through of my routine without the extra safety mats or the coach underneath. When I went up for the trick, I froze in the air. This was over 40 years ago for me and I just got the chills typing that. After pancaking flat on my back and getting the wind knocked out of me, I was unable to attempt another twist, even onto the thick mats.

This is how a fear can limit our actions, and it applies to any other anxiety brought on by a trigger event.

Here is a different example. Doing back giants on the high bar with a backhand grip, I came up short on my third one. That means I stuck a handstand above the high bar. While this did not scare me, I had to make a quick decision.

I turned my hands around to a forward grip and started my front giants. When I completed the first one, it occurred to me that this was the first one I had ever done in my life. The second one was speeding up and it also occurred to me that I had no idea how I was going to stop. I did notice the crash pad below met with the floor mat providing a landing strip for me. So, with the next time around being even faster, I let go, flew to the end of the crash pad, landed in a squat and did two back summersaults onto the floor mat.

Not a hint of fear entered my mind. Should have, didn’t.

When I met the coach at the chalk basin he chuckled and said, “I was wondering how you were going to get off that thing.”

Hope that you have a Happy Friday.