A Google search on the internet of the phrase “feeling nervous” is pretty fruitless, folks, so don’t try it. I am currently feeling nervous, so this week’s column has become a means for me to indulgently calm myself and perhaps encourage anyone else who may be experiencing the jitters.

I agreed to speak to a group of about 70 high school students this weekend about life and love and God and other profound topics I’ve hopefully learned a little bit about in my four years of higher education at Eastern Illinois University.

It would be bad enough if it was just one talk, but it’s a weekend retreat that requires me stepping up to the podium four unsightly times.

Give me a pen and paper, and I can arrange my views on life in a somewhat interesting and entertaining manner, but when it’s between my mouth and 140 eager young ears, that’s another challenge altogether.

So I’ve been sweating bullets over my upcoming speaking extravaganza for the greater part of two weeks.

In an effort to consult the experts on the subject of feeling nervous, I went to my favorite source of information: the World Wide Web.

“Maybe I’ll find some tips for dealing with nervousness or a quaint story about an anxious athlete who channeled his nervous energy into performing phenomenally in a game,” I thought.

Not so. The sites that popped up identified feeling nervous as various physical afflictions ranging from the mild to the more severe: heart beating fast, can’t get your breath, dizzy, shaking, sweaty, being irritable, having trouble concentrating, insomnia…

Okay, I’m sure there are those who suffer from these extreme symptoms, but I’m talking about butterflies in my tummy. I don’t quite need medical attention.

So sorry, friends and neighbors, you won’t be hearing from the professionals today. All you get is my amateur attempt to get a handle on these unpleasant flutters in my gut that keep me from feeling at ease.

Let’s think about some of the things that make us feel nervous: an important test, the first day of student teaching, a job interview, your big debut at the karaoke bar … Any number of activities can make our palms sweaty and our stomach a little queasy.

My first instinct is to avoid endeavors that will produce this effect on me. Life is much easier if we never have to do anything hard.

Thinking ahead to a busy weekend of watching movies and bowling doesn’t toss me into a sea of stress.

It also doesn’t stretch me as a person or build my character.

As I was making my little way to class today, it came to me that it’s really important for me to do things occasionally that really freak me out. If I want to grow, if I want to make a difference, if I want to become a strong individual, I have to face challenges that make me really stinking nervous.

So I’m not going to try to channel my nervousness into positive energy. I’m not going to perform multiple stretching exercises and breathing techniques.

I’m just going to prepare for my speeches and deliver them the best I can, no matter if I feel so nervous that I might puke because how pathetic would it be if I never did anything scary?

And maybe I’ll walk away from the weekend thinking I said nothing of value and feeling like no one was changed because of my words, but I’ll know I will be changed.

I’ll know I’m a little braver, a little tougher, and a little more daring, and I can feel a little bit of satisfaction in that I made the effort to offer my two cents to the world.

And that’s worth walking around feeling nervous for a few days.