About Performance Anxiety

Does anxiety steal the spotlight every time you need to perform? Whether you call it 'stage fright' or performance anxiety, this challenge affects countless talented individuals—from musicians to athletes, presenters to professionals.

Many push through their performances, only to feel frustrated knowing they could have shone brighter without anxiety holding them back. The most challenging part? It often becomes a vicious cycle: worrying about getting anxious makes you anxious, which then confirms your fears, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that can feel impossible to break.

While performance anxiety often appears alongside social anxiety disorder, they're not the same thing. You can experience stage fright without having broader social anxiety—it's specifically about the fear of being judged while performing.

Remember, this response is deeply human—our ancestors needed to be wary of group judgement to survive. But here's the encouraging news: with professional support, you can break free from this cycle and let your true talents shine through. However, it forms part of the social anxiety realm as the primary fear is in relation to what other people think.

Remember, this response is deeply human—our ancestors needed to be wary of group judgement to survive. But here's the encouraging news: with professional support, you can break free from this cycle and let your true talents shine through.

Symptoms of Performance Anxiety

  • Worry and stress ahead of any performance.

  • Fear and worry about doing something that will be embarrassing, such as blushing, saying something 'stupid', forgetting your lines/speech, sweating or seeming incompetent.​

  • Feeling like you're being watched and judged all the time. A sense of a spotlight on you with a heightened sense of self-consciousness.

  • Feeling unable to focus on the task at hand because the anxiety and stress is consuming you.

  • Fear of failing, or being criticised and ridiculed.

  • Physical symptoms that can occur before, during and after: freezing, dry mouth, heart palpitations, feeling zoned out, shaking, choking up, panic attacks, sweating and more.

Performing arts university manager

“I know the students took a lot from the workshop. It will be imperative in their upcoming auditions. Thank you.”

Corporate manager

“I understood over our work it was the fear of coming across incompetent to a whole company of people who look to me for leadership. Finding out through the experiments that this is not how others see me was significant in lessening the physical symptoms.”

Want to work with me on overcoming performance anxiety or organise a workshop for your company or college?