The Effect of Anxiety on ML Assessment

Passing my Mountain Leadership (ML) Summer assessment entailed suffering the largest amount of anxiety I have ever experienced. Apparently for me, severe nerves can result in crying for no apparent reason.

Nerves can be a good thing; they are part of our natural fight or flight instinct and can increase focus, enthusiasm and energy towards an objective. Nerves can however inhibit performance due to some of the symptoms being sweating, difficulty concentrating and feeling sick (University of Wolverhampton, 2008).

Before Assessment

The ML assessment looks at a number of different aspects including navigation, rope work, river crossings, weather, leadership, general enthusiasm and motivation towards the mountains and an up to date logbook containing experience in different mountainous areas around the UK (Mountain Training, 2013). Some aspects of the ML are unpracticed due to them being for emergencies. Queue my mum and I getting very strange looks from passersby as we practiced rope work on a steep bank near a busy footpath and wading through a two metre wide trickle (a very dangerous 10cm deep) a number of times pretending it was a lot deeper. In general I came to the conclusion that I might be ready, so booked the assessment for a month later.

The Week Before Assessment

In preparation a friend of mine and I went to Snowdonia for a few days the week before. We wondered in the rain and mist up Carnedd Dafydd looking for river sources, little spurs and walls; had an entertaining climb up Tryfan (unsurprisingly in the rain), with two elderly guys informing us that “Did you know there is a path here?” as we were scrambling towards Heather Terrace, then on day three were treated to beautiful dry weather as we went up Y Foel Goch.

View from Y Foel Goch

The aim was to practice and calm my nerves for the following week. Different people respond differently to nerves depending on their personality trait anxiety, fear of failure, internal factors such as how tired they are and external factors of perceived pressure from other people. The body’s responses to these causes are split into two categories, somatic and cognitive. Somatic responses are behavioral and physiological. Behavioral responses include being fidgety, issues with coordination and accuracy, and physiological responses include increased heart rate and stomach butterflies. This therefore explains the previously mentioned crying that I experienced during the week before assessment. During fight or flight situations the body shuts down unnecessary physiological actions such as your immune system, which is why people get ill during exam season. There are a number of solutions to anxiety including relaxation techniques (deep breaths, stretching) and visualizing techniques. When I get really nervous, to reduce nerves I remind myself that it’s not going to kill me and I will still be alive when it’s over. 

Assessment Week

The first morning of my ML assessment was awash with anxiety symptoms where I woke up way too early and just about managed to eat breakfast. After an introduction we went up Moel Siabod each leading a leg doing micro navigation. Even though I was ridiculously anxious before starting my assessment thankfully all my nerves went as soon as I started. Nerves can be useful at times and proper preparation can help to prevent them, as you feel in control and confident about a situation, meaning you are more likely to succeed (The 5 P's).

The 5 P's

The rest of the week went by in a haste plants, camp craft, equipment and folk lore; walking up steep terrain, getting confused, seeing the Tour of Britain ride past and fixing problems. During the assessment I tried not to think too much about the outcome of the week and just concentrate on the issues at hand. This is an anxiety reduction technique called thought stopping, where you force yourself to stop thinking about the issue that is on your mind. However research has found that this technique leads to thought increase or rebound later on, as when you try to suppress a thought you are more likely to think about it and pay more attention to it (Leahy, 2010).

References

Leahy, R. (2010) Why Thought Stopping Doesn’t Work. Available: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anxiety-files/201007/why-thought-stopping-doesn-t-work [accessed: 13/11/2013].

Mountain Training. (2013) Mountain Leader Award. Available: http://www.mountain-training.org/award-schemes/mountain-leader- [accessed: 31/10/2013].

University of Wolverhampton. (2008) Dealing with Nerves. Available: http://www.wlv.ac.uk/default.aspx?page=26709 [accessed: 31/10/2013].