When Singing In Front Of People Makes You Panic.

I used to feel sick before performances.

👋 My hands would shake.

❤️‍🔥 My heart would be beating out of my chest.

🦋 I'd get the butterflies in my stomach.

And big time that feeling of wanting to hide before stepping out on stage. 🫣

What made it even harder was that I seemed to be surrounded by performers who were cool as cucumbers and those same people often assumed I wasn’t nervous.

I got very good at hiding it.

I spent much of my energy trying to avoid my anxiety, trying to “hold it together,” trying not to embarrass myself.

And if you’ve ever experienced performance anxiety, you know exactly what I mean.

>The anticipatory dread.

>The overthinking.

>The spiraling thoughts.

>The way your body suddenly feels unfamiliar and out of your control.

It can make singing feel so much HARDER than it needs to be.

For a long time, I thought the goal was to get rid of the nerves completely.

To somehow become the kind of performer who felt calm and confident all the time.

Turns out, it's not true.

Performance anxiety isn’t necessarily a sign that something is wrong with you.

Your nervous system is just doing its job: trying to protect you.

Your body perceives being seen, evaluated, judged, being vulnerable... as high stakes.

Once I stopped fighting my body and resisting it...the power it had over me lessened.

That doesn’t mean the nerves disappeared overnight.

But I learned how to work with myself instead of against myself.

That’s what last week’s podcast episode of The Joyful Singer was allllll about.

In Episode 7 of The Joyful Singer Podcast, I’m sharing 12 practical tools that have genuinely helped me navigate performance anxiety throughout my career.

These are tools I’ve used before auditions, performances, rehearsals, concerts, and high-pressure singing situations.

We talk about things like:

• nervous system regulation
• visualization
• journaling
• reframing the role of nerves
• self-talk
• preparation  

and....most importantly ...how to stay connected to your voice and body when anxiety shows up. So it stops sabotaging your performances. 🙌🏻

One of the biggest mindset shifts for me has been this:

The goal isn’t to become a singer who never feels nervous.

The goal is to become a singer who knows how to work WITH that energy, channel it to your benefit.

That’s where real confidence comes from.

Not from making it disappear, but being able to trust yourself to manage it and get through it.

Performance anxiety is incredibly human so if you struggle with this, you are definitely not alone! 🙋🏻‍♀️

Many of us are.

We think we are in the minority, but the truth is we are not.

And it’s something you can absolutely learn to navigate with more compassion, awareness, and support.

If this is something you’ve been dealing with lately, I hope this episode can provide that support you've been looking for.

You can listen to Episode 7: 12 Tips for Dealing with Performance Anxiety wherever you listen to podcasts.

And if it resonates, I’d love to hear from you!

Cheering you on always.