Increased heart rate
High adrenaline level
A feeling of restlessness
A state of mental arousal
Heightened sense of awareness

It is a combination of all the above signs and symptoms that we use to explain what excitement does to us. It could be the little things that make us skip a beat or the prolonged moments that leave us with our hearts drumming in our ear. It is the sweating palms and shallower breaths of anticipation.
It is what one experiences when heading out for a crazy night of fun with friends, also when meeting someone who is a stranger with potential to be more that just an acquaintance.
It is exactly what I experience every time I’m boarding the flight for a trip that I’ve been planning and putting together for quite sometime, also when I sat smiling next to him for the first time with cameras and happy faces pointed at us.

With lack of context it is very easy to confuse these signs between excitement, nervousness and fear.
Ever realise that?
We go through the same set of physiological responses when experiencing excitement and fear, while they are such opposites!
If you try to think a bit longer and dwell deeper, it is easy to see that the root difference is based on the fundamental element of ‘known’ and ‘unknown’.

So the next time you’re scared of something and it is leaving you sleepless at nights and anxious during the day, spend some time and energy in getting to know more and more about it. Because the more you learn the more your brain is likely to make it into a pleasurable and exciting experience rather than a dreaded and feared one.

Here’s to getting to know more and being more excited each day!