Nervous Energy

A few weeks ago, I had to recite a poem of my choice to my class. It was a terrifying experience and I'm going to tell all of y'all about it!


Imagine spending weeks preparing a poem to read, reading it and rereading it with different cadences and tempos over and over again. The day comes for you to present it to the class from memory. In an effort to get it over with, you ask your teacher if you can go next. He says yes and you get up, walking slowly towards the spot in front of the camera. In the few seconds before you start, your mind races and your legs shake. You have no idea what's going to happen or how you are going to do. Finally, you gather yourself and recite the poem. When you are done, you walk back to your seat and sit down, relieved that you are finally done.

Now you might be confused as to how you were able to gather yourself.

Actually, let's just make this simpler. The story was about me.

So how was I able to gather myself? The answer is that I wasn't. This sounds insane, but it's true. The energy that I was using when my mind was racing and legs were shaking? I channeled that energy into my performance.

I'm an introvert. I gather my energy from being alone. This poses a bit of a problem when performing. I am usually able to perform after I've been alone for a while. So when I'm up on stage and need some form of energy, I have to pull from what I have on hand. That happens to be nervous energy. If you're an introvert and you need some energy to pull on or focus on, try nervous energy.

Cheers, DFTBA, and Good Night.
Anna Grace