Two of my most successful public performances in the past were graduation and my recent presentation in one of my classes. Both of those public performances showed off my hard work, motivation, and dedication when I set my mind to something. I felt anxiety in both performances but seeing someone in the audience that cares about me and supports me seems to help a lot. Two of my disastrous performances were my recent test scores on two of my exams. I studied really hard for them both but didn't seem to get the score I was aiming for. I think maybe they weren't successful due to my lack of interest in the topics. I didn't have anyone comment on these performances, just a professor evaluate and grade my work. I was surprised when seeing my score but knew I just had to work harder the next time around.
Exploration Questions
Efficacy and self-esteem play a major role when under pressure to perform successfully because if I don't have the efficacy nor the self-esteem to be successful it will show through the ending result of my performance of my work. To manage performance anxiety I make sure I have supporters in the audience, remind myself of all my hard work, practice before performing, get feedback, and remind myself of the ending results of my past successful performances. When receiving negative reactions I usually take it as advice on ways to improve for next time and make sure not to show it hurt or made me upset. It's good to learn how to suspend initial reactions when being judged so I won't show the person judging me that they can affect me with their harsh words. It's always good to that someone's judgement won't define me as a person and everything I do. Three techniques I've used to suspend those reactions are deep breaths, keep my head held high, and remind the person judging me that what they feel or think is okay and that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. In the future these techniques will help me get through life because everyone has an opinion on everything I do even though it's my life and my choices. I can always turn evaluation and judgement into assessment information by keeping in mind that what people think or say isn't who I am nor my reality.
