I have stage fright. Yes, you heard right. I have stage fright. Now, you may all be thinking, ‘A bit ironic, isn’t it?’ Given that I’m standing here on stage before all of you, seemingly unfrightened, perhaps even eloquent and composed. Well, don’t be fooled. I practiced this speech about 100 times in the mirror, and yet there is still the looming thought of failure. What if I trip and fall on stage during this live broadcast for thousands to see? What if I stutter? What if I lose my train of thought and forget what I am about to say? Ladies and gentlemen, I am here today to talk to you all about stage fright. To start with the basics, let me proffer the definition of stage fright. Stage fright is the anxiety and panic caused or experienced before any performance. Cold, clammy hands, sweating, and increased pulse rate. You can literally hear your heart beating through your chest. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? I'm sure it does. All of us have had, at one point, or do have stage fright, myself included. Speaking of myself, let's get to know me a bit, shall we? A fun fact about me is that I love to sing. And I recently took to performing, well, as often as my conscience lets me in front of the crowds. Here are some of my thoughts before any performance. What if I forget the lyrics? What if people don’t like my singing? And my personal worst? What if this entire time, I never have actually been able to sing, and people have been lying to my face but laughing behind my back? Relatable, right? Or is it just me? Now, anyone would expect that the afterthoughts of this performance would be more positive, given that I got through the ordeal that I was initially dreading. However, you would be surprised. Here are some of my thoughts after a performance. What if people were clapping just to be polite? And I heard my voice crack. I ruined the entire performance. I will never be able to perform again. And yet, this glorious cycle continues. So then why is it that I continue to sing? Well, believe it or not, underneath all this insecurity lies the confidence that drives me in the first place, and the conviction that I actually can sing and that people need to hear me sing. Funnily enough, in doing this, I ended up teaching myself one of life’s most important lessons, which is that the more you listen to fear, the more power you give it. You know how it’s become a global enigma that in horror movies, people run towards the ominous sound instead of away from it, like any sane person would? Well, ideally, that is how we should react to the things we fear. Marcel France says the secret of life is this, ‘When you hear the sound of cannons, run towards it.’ Allow me to share some more words of wisdom. Fear is not the desire to avoid. Indifference is the desire to avoid. Fear means not knowing how to approach something of interest. Therefore, just because something scares you does not mean that you shouldn’t do it. It doesn’t mean that you should avoid it. Quite the opposite, in fact, it means that you should embrace it. Because beyond that fear lies the desire to accomplish that very task. And beyond that threshold of accomplishment lies the gratification that will motivate you to do more than you could have ever imagined yourself doing. Now you may be asking, does the stage fright ever go away? To be frank, I don’t think so. At least not for me so far. However, to quell your worry, I will tell you that it does get better with exposure. Each time you accomplish the task, be it public speaking, singing, or acting, the desire grows and it eventually overwhelms the doubt. So go for it. Volunteer for that conference or that debate for once and become that change to break the cycle. Thank you.
