In the movie Big Fish, Edward Bloom and his friends encounter a witch as young boys. The legend of the witch is this - if you look into her eye, you'll see how you're going to die.
The witch surprises the friends. They see their fate and run for dear life.
But Edward approaches the witch willingly, wanting to see how he dies. Saying (not an exact quote): "Seeing how you're gonna die could mess you up, sure. But then again...you'll know that you survived everything else."
In an interesting twist, this knowledge of Edward's future death becomes his strength over the course of the movie.
When it comes to any sort of performing in public, our lizard brain kicks in and tells us to run and hide. Actually, when we try anything new or unfamiliar, it tells us to flee.
Not only does it tell us to flee, but it says, we're gonna die!!!
Outdated hardware from primitive days and all that...
But, in reality, we know we're not gonna die. So like Edward Bloom, you can confront the thought process something like this.
Oh, a new and interesting performing opportunity in front of strangers!
Are we doing to die? No.
Okay, let's do it!
(Lizard brain vanquished.)
When in doubt, ask yourself if you'll die in the worst case scenario. If the answer is no, just do it. Don't question it. Just do it.