So much has been written on the subject of “what to do about nerves,” as if nerves were some monster that comes out of nowhere and attacks you. In fact, nerves are never random and are simply a reaction to a specific set of circumstances. In that way, the physical and mental/emotional state of being nervous is no different than any other. If you have a way of deconstructing nerves to see what they’re made of, they’re not so ominous. Everything is manageable in its parts.
Say you’re in the waiting room about 20 minutes away from your audition. You were feeling great in the car, but now your stomach is starting to flutter, your breath is getting short and your palms are clammy. Instead of going into denial and trying to run from the discomfort, I encourage you to lean into the moment and examine exactly what’s going on using these three simple steps:
1. Review your work. Nerves often spring from doubt. In fact, the paradigm of anxiety in psychology is one of the simplest: doubt, fear, anxiety. The way a paradigm works is that if you take away the first step, it falls apart. Put another way, if you have nothing to doubt, you have nothing to fear and nothing to be nervous about.
If you prepared
Leave a Reply