How I Overcame Anxiety for My AAENP Keynote Presentation

Hey y’all! Sarah Michelle here 👋.

I want to share something pretty wild. Back in March, I got on stage at the AAENP conference to give a keynote presentation 😳.

Some of you already know that I struggle with anxiety—the kind you get before a big exam, sports game, or, in this case, public speaking. 25-year-old me would be shaking in her boots even thinking about the idea of giving a speech to a huge conference of ENPs!

When I found out that I was chosen to give the keynote speech, I was transported back to nursing school again. I was face-to-face with one of the instructors who told me I wasn’t cut out to be a nurse because I was too anxious (yes, that actually happened 🙃). Even all these years later, that instructor’s voice echoed in my head once again, and made me wonder if I could actually give this keynote.

But here’s the thing—my dreams have always been way bigger than my fear. I didn’t let that instructor’s voice get to me the first time, so why would I let it stop me now?

A Little Backstory…

If you’re new around here, here’s a little backstory: after I reached my goal of becoming a nurse and then nurse practitioner, I looked back and realized there must be a better way to approach nursing education than the way I’d been taught. So, I came up with a system that was completely different from the review courses I was taking at the time, one that was focused on helping to ease students’ anxiety instead of amplifying it.

This is how the SMNP Reviews Live Study Group was born, which has now helped thousands of students pass their NP boards with a 99+% pass rate!

Now, I’ve kind of made anxiety reduction my whole “thing,” and I love it. So many of our students didn’t realize that other people felt the same way as them and had never seen someone else like them teaching a course. They look around and think, “oh, I’m not the only anxious person,” and can feel seen maybe for the first time in their nursing career.

My AAENP Keynote Presentation

So, back to AAENP. This is really what my speech was all about—supporting future nurses and NPs when they need help, not leaving them out to dry. Did you know that one in FOUR nursing students will drop out of their program? At a time when we need nurses more than ever, something needs to change about our profession.

And ultimately, this is what motivated me to get up on that stage and talk about my experience. I wanted to cover everything from feeling unsupported in nursing school, to starting my business, to the importance of mental health in nursing education. 

But I knew I couldn’t do it alone. So, I hired a public speaking coach to help me make an anxiety plan and walk through my speech to make sure I was ready in time for the conference. I realized it was actually very similar to what we do at SMNP, so it felt really full circle for me to be giving a keynote speech about starting my business, using some of the anxiety tips I founded my business on! 💜

I worked with my public speaking coach to control as many variables as I could before the speech. I flew to Salt Lake City a day early in case I had any flight issues, and went to the conference hall the night before to test out my mic, laptop, and practice my speech. Then, I went through a gratitude exercise to put me in the right frame of mind and remind myself that I’m so grateful to be the one giving this speech!

Here’s a pic of my daughter, Meadow, and me in the hotel room only 10 minutes before my keynote! Hanging out with her is one of my favorite anxiety-reducers. 🫶

You Can Do the Same for NP Boards!

If you’re preparing for your NP boards, you can also do the same practice that I did. Not only preparing in advance, like visiting your testing center ahead of time or arriving early, but also reminding yourself of why you’re there and how many people you’re going to help by overcoming this fear. How many days did you spend dreaming of where you are right now? Put yourself back into your younger self’s shoes who would be thrilled to see you taking the NP board exam right now.

Funnily enough, one of my anxiety-reducing tactics was to take off my ✨literal✨ shoes during the speech to ground myself. I took pauses when I needed it, and reminded myself that I had plenty of time. I recommend trying out a few tactics during practice exams to see what calms you down, so that you can use the ones that work for you on your actual exam!

As you can see now, I finished my keynote and lived to tell the tale. Afterwards, I had so many people come up to me and tell me how much my story resonated with them. One of my first students and her best friend even flew all the way from New York just to see me speak at the conference! That kind of support is what keeps me going, and makes this all worth it.

📸 Here’s our awesome team at the AAENP conference! Rosh Review/Blueprint was the premier sponsor of the conference, and everyone was VERY excited about the new-and-improved Rosh ENP Qbanks moving over to SMNP Reviews. You can check out all of our ENP resources here (plus AAENP members get a discount)!

Main Takeaways: Learn to Work With Your Anxiety!

If you’re feeling anxious before your NP boards, please know that you’re not alone. Even after years of working with my anxiety, I still struggle with it. As you can see, giving this keynote speech did not come easily to me!

Over the years of doing this work, the most important thing that I’ve learned actually isn’t how to get rid of your anxiety altogether, it’s how to work with it.

What are some routines that you can easily follow when you’re feeling anxious? What are some mantras you can say in your head? Who can offer you support to boost your confidence? 

No matter what it is, a good anxiety plan really is the secret sauce to making your dreams come true.

Looking For More Support?

If you’ve made it to the end of this post, take it as a sign that you can (and will!) become a real-deal NP. And you have so many people out there rooting for you, even if you don’t know it yet! We’d love to see you in our Facebook support group or one of our live sessions. See ya there? 💜

Looking for more (free!) articles to help you prep for your NP boards? Check out these other posts on the SMNP Reviews blog!

• Tips for Managing Test Anxiety Before Your NP Boards
• Top Test-Taking Secrets for Your NP Board Exam
• 13 Do’s & Don’ts for Your NP Board Prep