It's going to be tough, but I suffered quite a bit.
How'd I move past it? I started small (I was still rather young) and performed in a band. Eventually, I'd even sing. I am a classical guitarist but played rock, mostly.
Anyhow, I used to vomit and shake. I used to be truly afraid. I used to be scared of failure and of making errors.
So, I first started playing for people. It'd be a while before I was in a band and on stage. The first stage was small and had maybe 50 people in the audience. I threw up and made it onto the stage.
Over time, I realized that most audience members aren't accomplished musicians and won't actually notice a small error. Learning to play through the errors helped.
Eventually, I could walk out on stage, sing, talk to the audience, and actually put on a show instead of standing off to the side and concentrating on my playing.
What I'd suggest, and they are just suggestions, is hitting up something like an open mic night, a comedy club that has such, an open mic poetry reading, etc...
It will not be easy, but these days I'm outgoing and will talk to most anyone. I don't have any social anxiety and, if I do, I now have the confidence to just bluff it.
That same confidence has helped in many areas. It certainly helped with dating and in business. I've played in front of some large crowds and have spoken in front of some pretty large groups of people.
What it took was starting small and building up the confidence. What it meant was being able to interact with people at a much greater level.
I've since learned to be an active listener, which really helps. Open-ended questions about things they kno about is a great way to interact with people. It does require that one listens and give the others a chance to speak.
But, yeah... It made me toss my cookies, sweat a bunch, and I even fainted once. However, confidence grew quickly. It is absolutely not easy.
I don't know if that will work for everyone, and I assume it won't, but it worked for me. You have to make yourself do it the first times.
The impact it had elsewherein my life is amazing. I'm now very able to just converse with strangers. I now initiate conversations with people. In fact, I'm pretty much the polar opposite of how I used to be. I was a shy introvert who was unable to make many friends and didn't like to be social. These days, I'm a freakin' social butterfly!
So, maybe they can take something from that and try it?
How'd I move past it? I started small (I was still rather young) and performed in a band. Eventually, I'd even sing. I am a classical guitarist but played rock, mostly.
Anyhow, I used to vomit and shake. I used to be truly afraid. I used to be scared of failure and of making errors.
So, I first started playing for people. It'd be a while before I was in a band and on stage. The first stage was small and had maybe 50 people in the audience. I threw up and made it onto the stage.
Over time, I realized that most audience members aren't accomplished musicians and won't actually notice a small error. Learning to play through the errors helped.
Eventually, I could walk out on stage, sing, talk to the audience, and actually put on a show instead of standing off to the side and concentrating on my playing.
What I'd suggest, and they are just suggestions, is hitting up something like an open mic night, a comedy club that has such, an open mic poetry reading, etc...
It will not be easy, but these days I'm outgoing and will talk to most anyone. I don't have any social anxiety and, if I do, I now have the confidence to just bluff it.
That same confidence has helped in many areas. It certainly helped with dating and in business. I've played in front of some large crowds and have spoken in front of some pretty large groups of people.
What it took was starting small and building up the confidence. What it meant was being able to interact with people at a much greater level.
I've since learned to be an active listener, which really helps. Open-ended questions about things they kno about is a great way to interact with people. It does require that one listens and give the others a chance to speak.
But, yeah... It made me toss my cookies, sweat a bunch, and I even fainted once. However, confidence grew quickly. It is absolutely not easy.
I don't know if that will work for everyone, and I assume it won't, but it worked for me. You have to make yourself do it the first times.
The impact it had elsewherein my life is amazing. I'm now very able to just converse with strangers. I now initiate conversations with people. In fact, I'm pretty much the polar opposite of how I used to be. I was a shy introvert who was unable to make many friends and didn't like to be social. These days, I'm a freakin' social butterfly!
So, maybe they can take something from that and try it?