From the author: the article is addressed to those for whom the barrier to achieving success, expression itself is the fear of being in the center of people's attention."The whole world is a theater. There are women in it and men - all actors." Shakespeare In our lives, situations often arise in which we need to maximally and effectively demonstrate ourselves, our merits, talents, skills, experience, prove that we are right, present our achievements, communicate our goals, express our desires , needs, i.e. to express myself. Such situations of increased attention to our person include: an exam, an interview with an employer, a training seminar, meeting people, professional activities associated with the need to be in the spotlight, negotiating, corporate events, participation in concerts, competitions, competitions, performance with a report, a congratulatory speech, adaptation to a new team (educational, work). Self-expression is a creative act in which something is created into which we want to put our own special meaning and expect some kind of recognition, like actors entering the theater stage: here is my role - a psychologist writing an article, I perform it in front of you and expect a response in the form of comments or other reactions to my self-expression in this article. However, for some people, the fear of being the center of attention, of being negatively assessed or underestimated interferes with self-expression in personal, professional activities and the realization of their goals. Do you know the feeling of fear of being in front of the eyes of people you don’t know? Trembling in the body, dry mouth, lowered gaze, the desire to hide or fall through the ground so that they don’t see me, hear me, or think badly of me. And you wanted to prove: “I am, I exist, I know how, I can, I will achieve..” Instead, you refuse to declare yourself, losing the opportunity to build a career, personal life, move to a new level in education, self-development, relationships, you push your plans, hopes, abilities, needs into the shadows, all because you are afraid of being the center of attention and you are not sure that you are worthy of this attention. Some people are too strongly fixed on the assessments of others about their personal or professional qualities and therefore find it incredibly difficult , and sometimes it is impossible to express themselves, to realize themselves personally, professionally, they are often lonely, sometimes even married. It can be assumed that these people lack a sense of dignity, courage, the ability to insist on their own, artistry, and the normal need to attract attention to themselves other people and show interest in people, this entire list can be combined into one concept - assertiveness *. For example, I remember a case of working with a young woman who suffered a stroke; one of the topics of her problems concerned anxiety and suspiciousness about the distortion of speech in connection with the illness she had suffered; the difficulty of her social adaptation was that she was embarrassed to speak in a little or completely unfamiliar language to the public, including this made it difficult for her to find a job, since she was embarrassed to talk with a potential employer due to a speech impediment. Another client, a young man, was afraid to leave the house due to the consequences of an illness - unsteadiness of his gait, he believed that those around him they would mistake him for a drunk, and this greatly hurt his self-esteem. A woman of mature age experienced terrible agony after speaking to an audience with a report related to her professional activities, because she could not understand why it was so difficult for her to give a speech and believed that she could have achieved some success if she had not been hampered by the fear of being ridiculed. A woman, a professional musician, left the profession because she considered herself “mediocre” and doubted her abilities. She received a second education and began working in another profession, however, everything happened again here, she considered herself unfit for this one too.activities. The client, a professional photographer, was afraid of being negatively assessed and could not exhibit his photographs at the exhibition, although he had experience of awards and professional achievements in the field of photography. To one degree or another, working in a group and individually, we solved the problems assigned to them. In speaking before the public, be it spectators of a play or a lecture audience, business negotiations or meeting a stranger, there is always an element of acting and acting, since you need to be convincing, confident, open, sincere, bright, otherwise you simply will not be noticed or accepted seriously, they will forget about you and your message. However, not everyone succeeds in this easily, especially if a person has an “anticipation anxiety complex”, increased suspiciousness, vulnerability, low self-esteem and experience of unsuccessful attempts to express himself. All these signs can be attributed to the fear of public speaking. If we talk about fear in general, then the function of any fear is to protect; if we talk about neurotic fear, then it can have a symbolic form of expression, hide the true motivation for protection, and always inhibits personal development and socialization (adaptation to society). As for this type of fear, in the context of public speaking, there are also possible different degrees of its severity and degrees of harm to the individual. It is based on the fear of evaluating or underestimating oneself and subsequent deprivation of love. In the biography of such individuals, one often encounters suppression by the mother of the natural emotionality of the child, rejection of him as he is, increased demands for normative behavior, which results in a feeling of insecurity, lack of spontaneity, expressive and natural self-expression in any community of people. Accordingly, this fear protects against internal, imaginary self-destruction, which prevents a person in some cases from achieving success, and in some cases leads to a complete refusal of contacts with people. In the language of transactional analysis, we can say that our inner world contains many selves: Self-Child , I am an Adult, I am a Parent, and if we also take into account the theory of interpersonal relationships and roles, the Self-concept, then we can remember that there is also a social Self (wife, mother, sister, professional, specialist, friend, colleague and etc.), I am a group (jester, leader, outcast, scapegoat, etc.), I am an individual (good/bad, smart/stupid, active/passive, etc., what I am aware of, understand about myself is I). Only a part of our Self experiences fear - the child’s, dependent on the influences of the parent (the object of love), by accepting all of our Selves and giving them freedom, we become free in self-expression and self-realization. Professional experience in stage performances in the first profession, as well as conducting dance therapy trainings, assertiveness leads me to the conclusion: the stage, the audience, is the medicine that cures the fear of being in the center of attention. The more often you speak in front of an audience, the faster the excitement goes away and a calm confidence in your ability to influence your listeners comes. Our life is a theater in which we all play roles; recognized “actors” are those who get used to the role of the Creator of their life .Concluding my note, I would like to offer homework for those for whom it is important to work on their fear of the public, who are preparing for a public speaking session, or who are simply practicing effective self-presentation skills. Start reading books out loud, read fairy tales to children, by doing this you will complete three tasks: 1. Hear yourself, your speech from the outside, practice the skills of role-playing, acting, expressive reading and clear diction;2. Establish and strengthen an emotionally close relationship with your child or other family member (husband, wife, mother, etc.)3. Get feedback from your listeners and be able to correct the shortcomings of your “speech”. Do this exercise regularly and soon you will notice the result: a willingness to speak in front of an audience and enjoy being in the spotlight of people.* Assertiveness from English to!