As an introvert, you keep having all kinds of negative thoughts.
Thoughts like you may go blank, you may mess up, and the audience may laugh and make fun of you. And these thoughts are driving you nuts.
You’re feeling nervous, anxious, stress, and fear.
Understandable. Let’s dive in a little deeper.
Why?
Why are you having these negative thoughts of failure? What makes you feel nervous?
You are well prepared; you did your homework, but why are you still not feeling confident?
Now you may say that you’ve never been on stage. It’s your first time. It’s unnatural for you. You’re just too self-conscious. Or you simply don’t want to make a fool out of yourself.
Alright. That makes sense.
Let’s raise the stakes. This is where things get really interesting.
Imagine a big 20 feet cobra crawling onto the stage. And it’s heading in your direction like a bullet train with its fangs wide open.
What would you do?
You’d run, jump, and climb up the curtains if you had to. It doesn’t matter.
You’d be ready to make a fool of yourself. Even if the audience laughs. You’d do everything you could to save yourself.
Now, think about this:
Why did you stop caring what people would think when you saw that cobra?
You may say that saving my life is way more important than what people think. They’re not going to judge me in that situation. Because it is natural. And anybody in my situation would do the same.
True, true, true. Absolutely true.
But there’s a deeper reason behind it.
And once you understand this deeper reason, fear will disappear from your life. Forever.
The Antidote to Fear: AWARENESS
When you are on stage, you are not there.
You are lost in your own thoughts and feelings.
But when you saw that 20 feet cobra, something changed.
You become PRESENT.
Absolutely self-ware.
You were aware of where the cobra was, where you were, how fast it was moving, and what you needed to do to save your life. No?
You weren’t thinking about what people would think if I climbed up that curtain or making a fool out of yourself.
Nah. Nothing.
You were completely detached from thoughts and feelings and just acted on your instincts.
You didn’t think that you needed confidence to save yourself; you did what you needed to do to save yourself.
Confidence is self-awareness in action, as an introvert.
Self-awareness gives you the superpower to just act despite what you are thinking and feeling.
Trust me, it makes no difference whether there is a cobra on stage or not. It’s all happening in your head. Outside your head, everything is the same.
It’s your identification with your thoughts and emotions that causes the fear and nervousness. It’s your own imagined mental scenarios and their imagined conclusions that destroy your confidence.
Do you think a 5-year-old cares if he spills his food all over the table? Roaming around naked. Or slapping strangers for no reason. Not at all. They just do whatever the heck they feel like doing.
Because they are not self-conscious.
Self-consciousness is a mental disease. It destroys your ability to act intelligently. It disconnects you from your true self. And it fills your being with fear and self-doubt.
On the other hand, self-awareness helps you express yourself fearlessly.
It makes you act from a place of stillness. Centredness.
You become totally aware of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. We lack confidence when we don’t have a fixed inner center.
All your thoughts, emotions, and actions are all over the place. Your actions are guided by fear, doubt, anxiety, and inner conflict.
As an introvert, you have a great advantage over other people. Your sensitivity, observational skills, quick learning, and intuitive abilities can help you achieve any goal in life.
The sensitivity of introverts makes them naturally self-aware, but the problem is that we get swept away by our own thoughts and emotions. They overwhelm us, create pressure inside us, and make us act in ways we don’t want to act.
To overcome any problem in your life, the first step is to understand the root cause of the problem.
Just like a doctor cannot cure a disease until he reaches a correct diagnosis, you cannot overcome your self-limiting thoughts and emotions until you understand the source of your fear.
And the way to overcome that fear is through conscious action.
