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When I was younger - up until I was 19 years old and in college - I was surrounded with people in high school who felt like they knew what they wanted to do with their lives, and that was intimidating to me because I didn't.

When I was younger, I used to be super, super shy. I still find myself being scared of things.

When I was younger, I was afraid to be myself.

I taught myself confidence. When I'd walk into a room and feel scared to death, I'd tell myself, 'I'm not afraid of anybody.' And people believed me. You've got to teach yourself to take over the world.

For the longest, I was slightly naive when it came to the real world. There were a lot of fears I was afraid to conquer that were just holding me back from standing up for myself or taking chances.

Growing up, I was so shy, but it was weird because I was the complete opposite on stage. I was just free to be myself.

A lot of the physical flirtation with fear I did early on in my career, when I was a much younger person - stuff I wouldn't do now. But I was very interested in the mechanics of risk and fear in those days. And I found out fear pretty much always feels the same, whether it's doing a rock climb or speaking in front of an audience.

I was always shy and had a huge fear of being onstage.

I got through with my ability to mimic others and make people laugh. I swaggered through life, but, in reality, I lived in fear pretty much every day. I acted like a completely normal person, and I suppose I was good at it. But, inside, it was a very different story.

I am basically the sort of person who has stage-fright teaching. I kind of creep into a classroom. I'm not an anecdote-teller, either, although I often wish I were.