20 Jan A Note on Feeling Nervous

I was chatting with a friend the other day, lamenting about a training presentation I had to give at the organization I work for.

It wasn’t the topic that had me nervous. It was the audience. Put me in front of a classroom of kids, and I’m great. Heck, I’m comfortable running assemblies of hundreds of school-aged kids. But training a group of adults. Yikes. The nerves kick in and make me want to run for the hills!

But my friend had a wonderful perspective on this nervous stuff.

“If you’re nervous, it means you care,” she said. “And that’s a good thing.”

So simple and yet so true.

It doesn’t wash away the jitters—or even minimize them, but it certainly helps frame the feeling better in a better perspective. The nervousness, my feelings, are coming from a positive, productive place, and that’s something to be proud of, not ashamed up.

So, the next time you feel nervous, do yourself a favor and stop for a moment to think about why.

What is it that you care about? Why is this important to you? And how can you show up for it most effectively?

Responding to nerves this way serves us far better than simply trying not to feel them.