What should I do whenever I feel nervous in public?

A few things that help in the moment, and a few that help over time. In the moment: 1. Slow your exhale. A longer breath out than in signals your body to calm down faster than "just relax" ever will. 2. Remember the spotlight effect: people are far less focused on you than it feels like. Most of what feels glaringly obvious to you is invisible to everyone else. 3. Give yourself an out. Knowing you can step outside, check your phone, or leave early if you need to almost always makes it easier to stay. Over time: 4. Low-stakes exposure works better than avoidance. Small, repeated doses of the situations that make you nervous, like a quick errand or a short conversation, build tolerance faster than waiting until you feel ready. 5. Prepare one thing, not everything. Knowing how you will open a conversation or what you are there to do takes a lot of the uncertainty out of it, without needing to script the whole interaction. If it is holding you back from decisions you actually want to make, like a job, a move, or a relationship, that is worth addressing directly rather than working around indefinitely.