The teacher asks a question and I immediately know the answer, but my hand doesn't go up. A few hands shoot to the sky and some call out their answers. I wonder to myself what it’s like to be like that… to not be crippled by anxiety. I ask myself why I worry so much. What if my answers wrong? What if they don’t agree? What if they can hear the nervousness in my voice and judge me? My palms are sweaty and my heartbeat is fast. You’d think I just ran a marathon, but instead all you see is me sitting in my chair, pale in the face, looking like I’m about to throw up. It’s just a question, who cares if you’re wrong? I finally find the confidence to raise my hand and the longer it stays raised, the shakier my confidence gets. I begin to forget what I’m going to say, and it’s back again, and it’s gone again… I snap out of the trance like state I’m in when I finally hear my teacher call on me. The teacher nods in approval with my answer and I see some of my peers doing the same. Before you let anxiety get the best of you, ask yourself, “What if they see potential?”