Thought I would share this conversation I had with myself a few days ago….
“Fear is running riot in my head at the moment!”
“Sunday is not so far away now, the day that I have committed myself to perform in an open mike session playing 2-3 songs on my flute… ”
“Am I mad for doing this? Possibly a bit.”
“Shall I just not do it then, it’s so much easier than all of these pre-show nerves….!?”
“Well, the thing is, if I don’t do it, I won’t be able to work through that fear after all, and I might even enjoy it once I get into it! How do I know I won’t like it or be good at it if I don’t give it a try?”
“I won’t!!!!”
Stepping into the unknown is REALLY scary, but I did my best leading up to a local open mike performance I committed myself to last week (with just a few day’s notice) to keep telling myself how excited I was about it since it generates a similar kind of emotion in our body as fear (as Mel Robbins talks a lot about)…. I really needed to give my mind something to feel positive about, to reduce the negative feelings of fear. Also, another tactic Bob Baker suggests is thinking of fear as some funny character to make it not seem so scary anymore, or just associate fear with something that makes you laugh, and not to let it make itself at home in your mind….
One of my biggest fears is performing in front of an audience, worrying about whether I will say or do the right thing, perform well, and what will everyone else think of me….. The only time I have performed like this is when I was in a band at school or else performed during exam conditions. So although I was extremely nervous but at the same time, I was really excited to start making my dreams come alive and was motivated to see what is on the other side of fear if I can manage to push through it. I didn’t want to let my fear of what could happen stop me, so I took the plunge and dived right in…..
It was a really fun evening connecting with other like-minded people, musicians and singers – so much talent amongst all the women that performed on the night. Having a place where we could all express ourselves through our love for music was brilliant – I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity!
Don’t let fear dictate your life, believe in yourself and what you have been blessed with, who knows what’s on the other side? You might be pleasantly surprised.