How to handle even the most intimidating situations. 

I wanted to share a story of intimidation that occurred several years back before I started my business. Some 12 years ago now.  
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I’d been playing instruments for quite some time but had not been involved at all in swing music… 
The old-school running 30 styles of music. I was asked to sing in a Big Band, Bird Yard Big Band, 
who I still sing with today.
On the first rehearsal, I remember being so incredibly intimidated by the amazing musicians around me. We formed a circle in a music room of a school library where we still rehearse today. Everyone was in a circle. I was nervous because I’ve never sung this style of music before and in fact, I couldn’t read music. It created quite a stern with me.  
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I was extremely anxious and I started singing until the bass player, a good friend of mine, Steve 
Collins, said “Anthony, what do you need? You’re not doing it well here…”  
​He’s known me for several years and I said, “I feel so incredibly nervous”, and he said, “Look, pretend it’s the Squid Munchies gig, pretend you’ve got a guitar engineering degree”. 
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I realised it was my problem and that wasn’t the people around me. It was my frame on the whole situation that was causing the problem. I was way past my hot climate zone.  
​I took a deep breath and I went back in with a different attitude and a different perspective and I 
just thought, you know what, I can do this. I remember one of the saxophone players turned around saying “Hey that looks and sounds good!”. 
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Hopefully, this little message reminds you that when you are feeling intimidated, one of the best ways out is to simply, as the drummer in the band says, “back yourself, get back to what you know, 
realize you’ve done that before, and you can do it”. 
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How did you like this little message on intimidation?  
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Share your comment. Hopefully, it helps you today get over intimidation the next time you face it 
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