To the OP, I was in your position the year before last - a huge emotional setback unrelated to performing meant I was having terrible stagefright. During performances, in my mind's eye I was putting the instrument away halfway through a set or a song and going home, as I just wanted to be alone. In reality, I didn't do that and held firm. When I see photos of myself during that period I can see straight away that I 'wasn't right'. And yet, perhaps this is my own self-awareness that others cannot have and so didn't notice, but no one ever made a comment during that period - perhaps I was just surrounded by people who cared about me (in some cases this is no doubt true and I count myself lucky). I have tried and tested methods for dealing with stage nerves and none of them worked during this time. But I kept getting up and I kept going on and I kept performing. I didn't give in to the voice in my head that told me to stop and that, in the end, is what kept me going and got me through it.

So all I can say, from my own experience, is that it *will* pass, get better, go away. Keep getting up there, keep playing, keep up the habit, and the habitual playing and refusal to listen to those nerves and negative voices is what got me through. I hope it will be the same for you. That, and someone completely unrelated to the folk world to talk to.

I wish you all the very, very best. And if you want someone to talk to who knows something of what this is like as you work your way through this, then feel free to PM me.

Stower.