Hijacked by Fear - When Your Mind Turns Against You

Or What to Do When Overthinking Hijacks Your Performance

🎧 Catch the full episode here

Have you ever walked on stage feeling fully prepared—but inside, it’s like your own brain turns on you?

Your heart starts racing. Your thoughts speed up. And even though you've practiced the piece a hundred times, your mind starts whispering: “What if I mess this up?”“What if I freeze?” “Why can’t I just do what I know how to do?”

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

A client recently described it this way: “It’s like my brain is a bomb… and I don’t know when it’s going to go off.”

She wasn’t afraid of the music. Or the technique.She was afraid of her own mind—afraid that no matter how much she prepared, she couldn’t trust herself in the moment.

That hit me hard. Because I know how many musicians live in that same space.

The Real Reason You’re Struggling

If you’ve ever thought, “What’s wrong with me?”, I want to tell you this right now: Nothing is wrong with you. Your nervous system is doing exactly what it’s designed to do: protect you from perceived danger.

The problem? Your brain doesn’t know the difference between a tiger in the jungle and a high-stakes performance.

So it kicks into fight-or-flight mode. And suddenly, you're not thinking clearly. You're reacting.

And here’s what makes it worse: The more you try to fight the fear… the stronger it gets.

Sound familiar?

That spiraling loop of overthinking is exhausting. But it’s also trainable.

A New Way to Work With Fear

Here’s the shift:Instead of trying to silence the fear, what if you allowed it to be there—but didn’t give it the driver’s seat?

Elizabeth Gilbert says it perfectly in Big Magic:“Fear can come along for the ride, but it doesn’t get to touch the steering wheel.”

When we stop trying to fix fear and start working with it, we take its power away.

And from there, we can build a new relationship with pressure—one that’s grounded in trust, not panic.

How to Start Rewiring the Pattern

Here are a few small but powerful ways to begin shifting this cycle:

• Separate yourself from your thoughts.

  
  

  Your thoughts aren’t facts. They’re just stories your brain repeats. You can reframe them.

  
  

  Try: “My brain is trying to protect me. I get to guide it.”

  
  

• Train for pressure on purpose.

  
  

  Don’t wait for performance day to feel pressure. Practice it. Do mock performances. Play through pieces at the end of practice, no stopping, no fixing. Get used to feeling “on.”

  
  

• Shift from outcome to process.

  
  

  Instead of thinking “I hope I don’t mess up,” focus on sound, breath, connection. Come back to the music.

  
  

• Build trust with small wins.

  
  

  Keep a “Trust Journal.” After every session, write down what went well. What you handled. What proves you can trust yourself.

  
  

Confidence doesn’t come from avoiding fear. It comes from learning that fear doesn’t have to control you.

You Don’t Have to Do This Alone

And here’s something important: This kind of transformation is so much easier, deeper, and faster when you have support.

As one of my own coaches once told me: “You can’t read the label from inside the bottle.”

You need someone on the outside, someone who can see the patterns, interrupt the loops, and help you build something better.

That’s exactly what we do inside The Music Mastery Experience.

It’s not just about playing better. It’s about building a system that supports you—on stage, in practice, and everywhere in between.

If this post resonated with you, if you’re tired of the spiral, and you want to start feeling in charge of your performance again, I’d love to help.

📅 If you’re ready for real support, book your free discovery call at mindoverfinger.com.

You don’t have to keep figuring this out alone. Let’s build the confidence and consistency you’ve been looking for, together.