Dear friends,

We've all had that one presentation or performance at a concert where we felt scared shitless. It happens to everyone. I hate getting up in front up people and doing some form of presenting. Doing a class presentation is the worst in my opinion. All those eyes looking at you. Your mind telling you all the things that could go wrong. Your heart race getting faster by the second. Well guess what?

It's all for nothing. Let me explain my perspective.

Personally, whenever I have a presentation or a performance coming up, I either tend to worry or dread it. Mostly I dread the presentations and I worry about performing. For presentations, I think it's the act of speaking in front of your peers that causes the anxiety to start. Then there's the aspect of comparing your presentation to others' and where yours could possibly go wrong. I've found out two things that help me with my fear of class presentations:

1) Practice boosts your confidence.

And 2) Most of the time, nobody cares about your presentation in class.

When I'm in class during presentation sessions, I look around and see that half of the people don't seem to care about what the speaker is saying. They've either already gone and don't care about the rest of the class, or they're too worried about giving their presentation. I try my best to listen to give the person respect. That's what we should do during these situations. Usually, though, people see these sessions as a "free-class" to do whatever. I get that, I really do. To be honest, it really helps me with presenting because the only person I am worried about is what my teacher thinks because that's the only person grading my work.

Presentations suck, don't get me wrong, but knowing that I practiced and that no one will really care how my presentation went, I tend not to worry anymore about doing it. It's five minutes of your life that you will forget about within a week, so why stress over it?

Performing in a concert-like setting is very different in my opinion. I worry about forgetting my lines/lyrics, or my voice cracking or anything that could go wrong. Luckily I take medicine to help me with my anxiety, but that doesn't mean it all disappears. My heart beat still races and my legs start to shake. Again though, performing is different.

If I am in a show portraying a certain character I tend to be less nervous because it's not "me" on the stage. I'm whoever I am performing as. The adrenaline keeps me going and being someone else is a lot less nerve-wracking than being myself because I feel less vulnerable as "another person."

If I am in the setting where I sing a solo I freak out because it's just me. No costumes or portraying an evil villain or anything. Just who I am and my voice. I'm self-conscious about how I sound regardless of the feedback I may receive. It's how I am and I'm sure a lot of others feel the same way.

The other week I had an acappella concert and performed my first solo with the group. I was terrified. My one thing going for me was that the audience lights were down so I couldn't really see people in the audience. That is always my go-to motivation. It really calms me down knowing I can't see who is watching me. As the song went on I felt better about myself. I know my throat was not working with me, and at the point I accepted that fact. If I can't fight that, I have to work with it. At the end everyone applauded and it made me smile. It doesn't matter how you think you sounded. The people there are there to support you. They're not there to bring you down. So why stress?

I'm not saying you shouldn't feel anxiety because, without some nerves, it wouldn't give you the same excitement. Nerves show that you care about it and that what you're doing means something to you. Nerves will help you get prepared for whatever you are presenting or performing.

The act of public speaking, dancing, singing, or whatever is one tiny moment in your entire life. Try to enjoy the experience instead of dreading it all. It's supposed to be a learning experience or a fun time! Everyone feels some sort of stage fright at certain points in their life, and you just have to remember that.

I hope you all have a beautiful day and enjoy your week.

Your Friend,

Al