Looks can be deceiving. Tune in perky Robin Meade on Headline News’ Morning Express With Robin Meade and you see a dynamic woman who appears supremely confident in her skills and abilities and definitely comfortable with herself. When someone achieves the level of national exposure Meade has earned, viewers expect nothing less. However, as Meade chronicles in her new book Morning Sunshine! How to Radiate Confidence and Feel It Too, the road to achievement is often fraught with disconcerting bumps that have the potential to derail our lives.
The cable television star nearly lost her career just as her star was rising. Having worked her way up through Ohio’s television markets, Meade earned at shot at the big time at a major Chicago station. It was there that the little butterflies in her stomach before a newscast blossomed into full-fledged panic attacks.
“I knew it wasn’t stage fright,” she said in an interview with the Columbus Dispatch. “I grew up singing in church — basically, I grew up on stage.” Yet, like many of us, Meade was reluctant to admit she was having trouble. “I just wasn’t very honest with myself,” she said. “I called it ‘the breathing problem.’ I was too embarrassed to face it.”
At the root of Meade’s severe anxiety were her efforts to constantly change to meet the demands of news directors and producers at the Chicago station. “I started filling the prescription of what many people thought was the perfect anchor. And I started to lose the real me,” she confided. Self doubt destroyed Meade’s self-confidence and nearly ended her television career.
At the insistence of her husband, Meade finally saw a doctor about her anxiety attacks. “I don’t think I’d ever have gotten help without him,” she confessed. “The same fears that led to my anxiety attacks were the same fears that kept me from asking for help.”
With therapy and a lot of hard work, Meade was able to restore her self confidence and develop new ways of processing and reacting to the demands of her job. Learning to be more assertive was crucial to managing her anxiety at work. (See Dr. Marks’ How to Be More Assertive podcast.) Meade hopes her book will help others conquer anxiety. She now greets viewers with renewed confidence when she smiles and says, “Good morning, sunshine.”