The belief that everybody is watching you is often another form of thinking the world revolves around you.

The feeling of being observed and judged assumes a level of attention that other people do not have. Everyone is preoccupied with their own performance, which means the audience you are managing is largely unoccupied. Painful as the feeling is, it rests on the same premise as vanity: that you are the thing others are focused on.

When self-consciousness spikes, ask what you were thinking about the last time you watched someone else do something slightly awkward. Almost certainly you have forgotten it entirely. That is roughly the amount of attention your own moment will receive, which is freeing rather than dismissive.