Voices for Mental Health: Martin Beanz Warde, on coping with anxiety

I’ve suffered with anxiety since I was 14. It’s something that I’ve tried to channel in my work as a stand-up. It’s an anticipatory thing that peaks just before I go on stage. If you don’t land the joke, you feel that you’re under threat. But if you can stay on the edge of that anxiety, you always feel sharp. What anxiety does is teach you to watch for micro expressions or changes of mood or energy in the room. When you’re up there performing, your mind is telling your body what to do in a split millisecond. It’s a way of utilising what is almost seen as a disability to your own advantage. I’ve turned a negative into a positive so, ‘Huh – in your face anxiety!’”

Now We're Talking 2019
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