I was paralysed with anxiety until I faced my worst fear, here’s what happened.

Ever since I was a teenager I have struggled with anxiety, paranoia and other horrible feelings that I can barely explain.

There’s always been that fear of… something, I’m not sure what, just something always lurking in the back of my brain. As if my subconscious is constantly on a high cliff and every few hours likes to look down at the crashing waves 40m below, but never has the decency to move away (or forward.)

There’s a unique power to exhaustion. Anger comes into play after years of weariness, anger that leads to motivation. I decided to use that anger to jump in the deep end.

I knew something had to be done, I had to do something that would hopefully show me that no amount of worry will ever do any good.

So, I asked myself what could be the most anxiety-inducing experience I could possibly do? The evident answer was public speaking. (It was either that or getting strangled by a snake)

So, I performed stand-up comedy.

I’ve been a huge fan of stand-up for years, with Netflix specials and YouTube videos always being my go-to. I had recently been to a comedy club where I watched 3 amateur comedians doing their absolute best, where I novicely thought, “I could be funnier than them.”