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do you get nervous

At Opportunity Camp, several of the little campers would come up to me and ask, “Kensley, do you get nervous up on stage?”

Standing in front of 140 kids ranging in age from 7-14 does not make me nervous. Afraid, terrified but not nervous. Just kidding … I’m not all that terrified except when they are holding objects that can be thrown at the stage.

But that’s not I told them.

Instead, I told them that I’m comfortable from having down it so much that I don’t get all that nervous any more.

“How did you get comfortable?”

By doing it.

That’s the advice I give to any young person contemplating public speaking. Just start doing it. I have found that the only way to get comfortable in front of a crowd is to start standing in front of a crowd. If you’re still breathing when it’s all over, that means you survived.

Few people mastered bike riding on the first try.

Most snowboarders will start on the bunny slopes.

Musicians go through a start-up period where every cat and dog in the neighborhood hates their music.

But, if you do something often enough, eventually you will get better. And as you get better, you get more comfortable.

Just get started. Get in the game. Start speaking or playing or snow boarding. You just might discover that you enjoy doing it.