I have to admit, I don’t understand test anxiety. I have students that tell me they have test anxiety, and that when they sit down to take a test they go blank. I do believe these students, but I don’t understand it. I don’t understand it because I seldom get stressed about anything and when I do get stressed, it doesn’t shut me down.

In the early fall of 2012, I was challenged to run a triathlon in 2013. I accepted the challenge and began training. I was already running some and had biked some in the summer, but I hadn’t been swimming. So I started a weekly regimen of running, biking and swimming. My first day in the pool was an eye-opener, I could barely do one lap of freestyle. As the weeks went by I got stronger and stronger and soon I could swim 40 laps of freestyle. I was feeling pretty confident about my swimming. I scheduled my first triathlon for the third week of June.

In early June, I was asked to do the swim leg of a triathlon on a relay team. I accepted thinking it would be good to see what a triathlon was like. I borrowed a wetsuit and practiced with it the night before the event. I felt like I could not breathe in the wet suit, but I went ahead and wore it for the competition. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and couldn’t extend my arms. It was hard, but I swam the mile. I was one of the last ones out of the water. I did not consider stress to be an issue (until much later), but realized that open water swimming was nothing like pool swimming and that I had better practice open water swimming before my competition in two weeks.

Now, the lakes in Northern Michigan are cold in early June, and my triathlon swim was to be in Lake Michigan on June 23 – I needed my own wet suit. I found a wetsuit that was sleeveless and short legged. It was easier to swim in, but my first swim in Lake Skegemog was difficult for me. The wet suit was no longer a problem, but I still breathed hard and stopped to tread water often. I swam every day and it got easier. Then, I tried a different lake, Elk Lake. It was a windy day and the lake was rough. It was a tough swim. It was this day that I realized the open water swim was stressing me. So I decided I should swim in new places to help me overcome the stress. It worked.

I still get stressed some when I swim in a new location. I have come to call the feeling by its real name. Here’s what I wonder though, why is it I did not become debilitated by my stress and my students do? Is there something in my past that affects my ability to not shut down when I am stressed, or is it my actions while stressed? If it is my actions while stressed, can these skills be taught to students?