Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.
Preparation
Transcript
Clara: Hi, how are you? I haven't seen you in class for a while.
Ben: Good, thanks. You?
Clara: Great, as long as I don't think too hard about all the essays I have to write this term!
Ben: Yeah …
Clara: Hey, are you OK?
Ben: I have to admit, I'm struggling a bit. Maybe even a lot. I've not been sleeping well at all and then I can't concentrate. And all these things are just going around and around in my head.
Clara: Mmm … that doesn't sound good. So, you're sleeping badly and you can't concentrate. Is that all it is, do you think?
Ben: Well, if I'm honest, it's more than that. I'm starting to dread going outside. I find myself worrying about stupid things like what if I forget the way home. Or, what if I go to class thinking it's Monday but actually it's Friday and I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time. It sounds even more stupid when I say it out loud. It took me two hours to leave the house today.
Clara: It doesn't sound stupid at all. It actually sounds a lot like me last year.
Ben: Really? But you're so together!
Clara: I've learned to be, but even I still have bad days. I used to have panic attacks and everything. When you were trying to leave the house today, how did you feel?
Ben: Like I couldn't breathe. And my heart was going way too fast.
Clara: Hmm … that sounds like a panic attack to me.
Ben: I thought I was going to die.
Clara: You'd be surprised how common they are. Loads of people have them, they just don't talk about it.
Ben: How did you get over them?
Clara: I actually talked to a doctor about it, and you should too. But I learned some practical things as well. Though they're easier said than done, and they're going to sound weird, so hear me out, OK?
Ben: OK …
Clara: So, one thing I did was to try to reduce the power of the anxiety and the panic attacks when they came. So – and this may sound strange – at a time when you're feeling safe and OK, you literally do things that make your heart start racing faster and your breathing speed up. Like spinning around on a chair until you're dizzy or hyperventilating so you're short of breath.
Ben: That sounds awful!
Clara: It is, but it means you get used to the symptoms, so they feel less scary.
Ben: Right.
Clara: Then you have to deliberately do the things that usually make you feel panic. So, if it's going to class on Monday and being scared you've got the wrong day, on Monday you go to class. If you let the anxiety control you by making you stay at home, it just makes it worse the next time you really do have to go out.
Ben: And what did you do if a panic attack came anyway?
Clara: I had a distraction plan. So, I walked everywhere instead of taking the bus because the exercise helped, but also I did things like count trees or red cars or something. Whatever it was didn't matter, as long as I had something else to focus on.
Ben: I can't tell you how much I appreciate this. I thought …
What makes me feel anxious and nervous is when I have to leave the city where I live. I don't like to spend the night out of my house. I don't like to spend the night at my sisters' or daughter's houses, and I always have an excuse when someone invites me to spend the weekend or a few days out.
The thing that make me feel nervous or anxious the most is at my work when I do everything that I suppose to do to get the things working fine and then suddenly something go sideways and it's not related on what I did, that makes me feel worried, because there's something failing not related with my tasks and I have to check everything until I find the external cause of the fail, despite that I think those situations are the best scenarios to learn new things, when you need to solve unexpected problems in a short time.
Thanks for the lesson.
Great site!
What makes you nervous or anxious ?
So personally for me the thing that makes me worried is a travelling abroad because I don't feel myself comfortable in unknown country and I really need some time to adjust to a new place. But I would say also speaking on the scene ahead of many people makes me often feel nervous. But now it is not a big problem because I have now much experience with it and know how to overcome my fear. I think it is very important to struggle with your worries, it is just good for the health .
What makes you nervous or anxious?
I always feel nervous when i have to speak in public , for me being online its the best part. I have no problem speaking to a large audience online , but when i tried for the first time in person , before the pandemic , i was really nervous and i felt like i didn't know anything .
As this is my last year of high school, I´m already starting to get nervous about what career to choose, and remembering that every little choice I make can change my future, It´s overwhelming to be honest. In addition , feeling like i´m wasting my youth right now is also a recurrent thought in my mind.
What makes you nervous or anxious?
Recently I have realized traveling alone makes me nervous and anxious as I can't sightsee because anyone won't help me if sth goes wrong.
In addition, it makes me shy on the train owing to strangers I am surrounded by.
In everyday life people tend to feel anxious. It is either a stress work related issue or a family dispute. Oftentimes, the stress level rise up wherein we can't control the symptoms we feel. This may lead into depression, where people felt scared to discuss in public. I felt mostly nervous and anxious when I attend a job interview as well as take an exams. I usually over think until I think blank, have cold sweat palms, and hear my heart beats fast. However, I have to overcome this in order to be able to pass.
I got anxious when I saw how politicians in my country makes people fool and looted them. Politicians have lot of wealth in abroad and they looted people. Economic development is stable. Inflation rate is going day to day.
It's feels me nervous.