Overcoming Stage Fright

August 2010

There I was – 18-year-old me – waiting to take the stage for the first time with Christian rock band, Southbound Fearing. Only three months prior, I was waiting to walk across a much different stage to receive my high school diploma. Now, I found myself in a small town in southwestern Ohio, ready to play my first music festival!

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Although I had invested many hours practicing, every single day, it felt like nothing could prepare me for my first big show. It was much different than playing with the little band I was formerly in with one of my sisters and a couple of friends. And this was WAY different than playing in church!

It was hot outside on the day of the festival, but I was sweating for a different reason. As I was trying to mentally prepare myself for the show, I became so nervous that I broke out in a cold sweat! Then, before the band came together to pray, I felt my sinuses drying up, and I could not believe it when my nose suddenly started to bleed!  

Throughout my childhood, I experienced many severe nosebleeds. On at least two occasions, my mom had to rush and pick me up from school when those nosebleeds became uncontrollable. Also, I remember one time – on our way to a Toledo Mud Hens baseball game with my family – I got such a bad nosebleed that my parents stopped at a nearby fire station and had the paramedics smother me with icepacks!

At the music festival, I had no icepacks, only tissues. If this wasn’t stressful enough, right before our band was introduced, a woman shared a testimony about her brother who died from a drug overdose. Then, I go onstage with tissues shoved up my nose, looking like I had a drug problem of my own. I shook my head at the irony and played our entire set looking that way. Fortunately, I was able to press on and play through.

I share all of this because I have come to learn that fear can be absolutely crippling. Especially for the believers reading this, I say you must choose faith over fear. Whenever you take the stage, you can do so with confidence and still have humility. Because “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

The best way to gain confidence and overcome any sort of stage fright is through solid preparation. A huge error artists make is not being fully prepared when they take the stage. Don’t be that artist! Equal to lack of preparedness is onstage or artistic deception, which I addressed in a previous blog. 

You can beat stage fright, overcome your fear and live out your calling. And you can start today! Connect with our team as we’d love to walk along side you in this process of creating a great live show! I might even be able to help you with a nosebleed! 

Are you interested in diving deeper into these areas for YOUR show? I’d love to get to know you and learn about your journey in music! Let’s schedule a FREE discovery call today!

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