People can’t see how nervous you feel nearly as clearly as you imagine. Knowing that changes a lot.

Nerves are loud inside and quiet outside. You get the full broadcast, the heart, the hands, the rehearsed sentence falling apart, while other people get a slightly stiff version that reads as normal. They are also busy with their own broadcast. Knowing the gap does not remove the feeling, but it removes the second fear, the one about being visibly afraid.

Test it this week: do the thing that makes you nervous, then ask somebody afterwards whether you seemed it. The answer is usually no, or a mild yes that bothered them not at all. Keep that answer, since it is confidence built from evidence rather than talk.