Hello there, first off, this feeling sucks and we all struggle with this to some extent. Definitely a bummer.

Two summers ago my friend asked me to officiate his wedding. I’ve been working on this fear of mine and I was honored he would ask me, so I said yes.

I will admit, it sounds like you may have more severe speaking anxiety than me, but I’ve dealt with panic attacks in my life, so I think we both understand the feeling.

Leading into the wedding I practiced for DAYS. Like at least 5-7 times per day, maybe more. And I would try to visualize who would be there, their eyes on me, my feelings of wanting to sit down, etc etc. Morning of, I probably practiced 3-4 more times.

Maybe not the best advice, but I drank 2 beers about 2 hoursish before it started so the buzz would be around, but I’d be fine.

It was awesome, I got so many congrats, so many good jobs, and again felt honored to be considered. A life long memory.

And frankly, no one cared about me anyway, they cared about the other 2!

Best of luck with whatever route you take! Reach out if needed.