From an Olympic start line to juggling work and young children, I’ve learned that pressure takes many forms. I’ve also lived with anxiety throughout my life. These are the lessons and habits that help me stay composed when it matters most.
Staying composed when life won’t slow down
There is a peculiar feeling when you look composed on the outside and feel anything but on the inside. You can answer the email, deliver the presentation and collect the children, while your mind races through everything that might go wrong.
I know that feeling. I am a double Olympian and an Olympic silver medallist, but I have also lived with anxiety throughout my life. Sporting success did not make me immune to it. Becoming a mother did not give me unlimited capacity to manage uncertainty.
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What sport gave me was practice: preparing for demanding moments, making decisions under pressure and continuing when my feelings were uncomfortable. Those lessons matter beyond competition, although everyday life rarely offers a clear finish line.
Focus on the process
Pressure at work and at home often accumulates quietly. It is a deadline alongside a child who needs you, or a busy inbox alongside a school closure.
Recently, living in Riyadh during frightening uncertainty, I have felt that accumulation intensely. There is shopping to do, work to finish and children whose routines need protecting. Meanwhile, the news is unsettling and sleep becomes harder.
In sport, you cannot perform every part of a competition at once. You attend to the task in front of you. That process focus helps me ask: what needs my attention now?
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Sometimes it is a difficult conversation. Sometimes it is finishing one piece of work. Sometimes it is making lunch before returning to the bigger questions. Pressure may still feel uncomfortable; I can still choose my next action.
Train the mind
We understand that physical training requires repetition. Mental preparation deserves the same consistency.
Michael Phelps’s No Limits: The Will to Succeed changed my life. His physical gifts were extraordinary, but what stayed with me was how deliberately he approached his mental preparation and daily choices. I applied those lessons to my own mental fitness. It is a book I consistently recommend to young athletes, whether working in schools or with high-performance teams such as Team Saudi.
Windy Dryden’s Ten Steps to Positive Living also supported my self-awareness. It is an accessible, quick read offering tangible advice. I particularly recommend it to teenagers and young adults beginning to understand their responses to pressure.
Brain chemistry, biology, experience and environment all play a part in anxiety. Neurotransmitters matter, but anxiety cannot be reduced to one chemical imbalance or overcome simply by deciding to think positively.
Visualisation offers a practical form of preparation. Research on imagining movement shows that mental rehearsal engages some of the brain networks involved in performing it, although imagining an action is not equivalent to completing it.
Beyond sport, try rehearsing how you will begin a presentation, pause when challenged or recover after losing your train of thought.
Know why your effort matters
Lewis Pugh’s Achieving the Impossible is the book that has resonated most strongly with me on finding your “why”. What stayed with me was the purpose sustaining his pursuit of extraordinary challenges.
Work and home life can also feel relentless. Knowing why those efforts matter gives them meaning. Having several reasons: family, fulfilment, contribution and personal growth, gives me something to return to when motivation feels distant.
Visual cues help bring those intentions into everyday life. A sticky note carrying a meaningful phrase can prompt a pause. “One thing at a time” may be more useful than demanding that you achieve everything.
Check in deliberately
I am better at getting things done than noticing how I feel. During challenging periods, setting a reminder to check in makes that pause purposeful. What am I feeling? What needs attention? What can wait?
A gentle body scan can help you notice tension without demanding that every sensation disappear. If focusing inward feels uncomfortable, return your attention to your surroundings.
Then zoom out. What do I know, what am I assuming, and what can I influence? Applying logic does not invalidate fear. It helps distinguish a feeling from a forecast.
Make room for recovery
Movement, regular meals and sleep deserve space in a demanding week. A walk or short strength session can provide a break without becoming another performance target.
Oily fish such as sardines provides omega-3 fats which supports my heart health and muscle maintenance. Supplements deserve a separate conversation with a qualified clinician: evidence for their use in treating anxiety remains uncertain.
Meridian tapping and acupuncture are approaches some people explore for relaxation. Both work for me and after each session I feel at the right side of my relationship with anxiety.
Recovery also means accepting an unfinished task. Recently, I planned to record an update and ran out of energy. Leaving it until the next day was reasonable.
As an athlete, I learned to prepare for pressure. As a working mother, I am learning to respect my limits too. On harder days, my aim is modest: make the next decision carefully, accept help and leave enough space to begin again tomorrow.
