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Anxiety is a very common word, or shall I
say mood. Who has not experienced felling worried taking an exam because you
have had previous failing scores? Who has tried going to a date with someone
you really like without feeling anxious because of anticipation? Anxiety is
a simply a normal part of life. It also helps us cope in every stressful
situation or events.
There are always reasons why we feel
anxious. For example, a groom may feel anxious on their wedding day probably
after seeing together the “Runaway Bride”. Or, the bride feared that her
groom might not show up on their wedding day and becomes a “Runaway Groom”.
Or, you are having a pool party with your officemates and you knew that
water in the swimming pools have plenty of bacteria, and you are worried
what people might think of you if you won’t swim with them. They are just
some situations wherein anxiety steps in.
See, anxiety can happen to anyone at some
point of their lives. As for those people who fears the stage, or performing
on the stage, it is called performance anxiety. Performance anxiety is
caused by the ways you think and feel. Performance anxiety can be a deeply
personal subject for musicians and many are reluctant to discuss all the
possible remedies. Stage fright, fear of public speaking and performance
anxiety is determined if you:
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Have an immediate surge of fear and
anxiety if you learn you need to deliver any public speaking or
performing
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Attempt to avoid giving presentations
or performances if you can’t get out of doing them
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Suffer from a lot of anticipatory
anxiety thinking about your presentation or performance ahead of time
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Experience stage fright and feel very
uncomfortable being “in the spotlight” when speaking or performing
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Worry about making yourself a laughing
stock in front of other people, fearful that people may see how nervous
you are?
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Feel a lot of inner turmoil or you have
missed opportunities because of your fear of performing.
One of the ways to lessen the performance
anxiety is to discover and change your thinking patterns, which puts too
much pressure on you. There are four steps for managing performance anxiety,
and these are:
Self-Assessment -
is getting to know yourself better of as a
person and performer.
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Identify problematic thinking, personal
motives for thinking, and capabilities and limitations as a performer
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Ask yourself what is it that frightened
you
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Do not confuse self-assessment with
self-criticism
General Exposure and Preparation
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Look for opportunities for exposure
from mild to moderate levels of stress but do not overwhelm your coping
skills
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Practice performances, dress
rehearsals, taping yourself and playing back to be able to prepare
yourself for any performances
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Be thoroughly prepared always
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Do relaxation techniques for this help
calm you.
During the performance
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try seeing the
audience as allies supporting you to do well
o
use anxiety to
your advantage
o
maintain normal
routine during performance
o
stay calm
o
think performing as
an opportunity for experience
o
get out of yourself
and into the audience
o
enjoy the
performance, rather than waste your time worrying
After the performance
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congratulate and reward yourself for
making the big step in overcoming your anxiety performance
It is indeed true that anxiety is caused by
the way we think and feel. By changing the patterns of the way we think and
feel from negative to positive, definitely POSITIVE will be the result.
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