Kimberley Smith | That Sweet Roar Vocal Coaching

I remember coming across this “pretend you’re excited” idea for stage fright when I was in the trenches.

I was willing to try anything.

The shaking was so bad when I sang in front of an audience that you could see the microphone swaying from the side to side. I was worried my knees would give out.

But it never worked for me.

It always felt like I was trying to convince my brain of something that was just obviously untrue.

.

So if you’re the same and this advice doesn’t seem to help you soften your performance anxiety either, here’s another suggestion.

I know we all just want the sensations to go away, to never have to feel any of that activation.

But that’s not how we get better at this.

The notion of “what we resist persists” is right. The more we fight it and label it as something that shouldn’t be there, the worse it gets.

Our job isn’t to get rid of this aliveness, it’s to get better at being with the discomfort. To build our capacity to experience it.

And this skill doesn’t only benefit you on the stage, in the audition and in the recording studio.

It’s a skill that will transform your life for the better.