It’s been long cited that people fear public speaking more than death, but in an era where everyone seems to have no problem pointing a camera at themselves and blasting their opinions to milions, I wonder if that’s still true?

Even still, the most savvy content creator can be paralyzed by actually speaking in front of a live audience. That feeling rises up inside… Fight or flight kicks in. Is this anxiety? Or is this a panic attack? I think I’m going to throw up… What if they all hate me? What if I pee my pants on stage and I destroy my career and then I die poor and alone, all because the very fate of my existence hinged on this one speech or presentation or interview!?

Well that’s anxiety talking.

But here’s where people with a theater background have a major advantage in business. I was a theater kid. And I did improv comedy for hundreds of people at a time for over 6 years. I can tell you, that what separates a “performer” from someone who’s terrified of performative situations, isn’t that one experiences anxiety and the other doesn’t.

The reason performers can’t be happy unless there’s an audience is the same reason that adrenaline junkies keep jumping out of planes. Wasn’t once enough??

Some people fear adrenaline, some embrace it. Some people fear performance anxiety, others see it as excitement. For me, I love that tingly feeling coming into a show or sales call or big meeting. That tingly feeling tells me “you’re alive”. And you guessed it, without it for too long, I feel “unalive”.

That’s why performers constantly seek the limelight. If you don’t consider yourself a performer, one of the best things you can do is simply not identify that feeling with “anxiety, fear, or stress”, but rather connect it to “alertness, aliveness, and awakeness.”

Maybe it’s not terror, but excitement. Because on the other side of that emotion is connection, fun, and community. If you could learn to embrace that one feeling, your fear of public speaking would disappear.