It's Not Christmas Without Stress!

I've been a singer for as long as I can remember and have been performing on a fairly regular basis for most of my life. But some kind of switch was flipped in college and since then performing live has become a source of stress. Once I'm actually performing, things are usually fine, and those who see me perform are most often surprised to learn of my anxiety. It's the waiting to go on before hand that stresses me out. It's one of the reasons that I find myself in the realm of recording now, instead of live performance.

But I still do the odd wedding or funeral every few months, or sometimes sing at someone's church when invited. And it seems that someone, somewhere, always asks me to sing for something during the Christmas season.

I want to avoid sounding ungrateful here. It's both flattering and encouraging when someone asks me to sing for something. And in some cases I'm paid, making it a financial help as well. But it's still ironic to me that in the time of year we most often think of "peace on earth", I have at least one or two days on my calendar that unavoidably induce stress.

Speaking of which, I've got a few other things I need to get done before I go out to do some "stress-inducing" later tonight! See ya!