Public Anxiety

Today I made the decision to put one of my student shorts in a public viewing film festival at a local theater. This is the first time that my work will be shown outside of my college with me sitting there watching the audience's reaction. I've always been terrified of large amounts of attention on anything I do. I've always been the person that gets all sweaty and pale when they have to be in front of a group of people or show their work to someone. I even completely freak out when a potential employer calls me on the phone. I start pacing and panicking because I have public anxiety problems. While I won't be getting up to speak or answer questions about my film I'm still completely terrified.
I know that I tried my hardest with my film and that my professor really liked it and so has everyone else that has seen it but that isn't how I look at it. Every single time I watch my own work I notice every tiny flaw and think to myself how awful it is and that THAT is what the audience will see. So even when I have no attention focused on me personally I still freak out. That's also part of the reason why I force myself to take classes and do projects that I will have to do some form of exhibition in. I know that I need to get over my anxiety. In the line of work I want to go into it is beyond essential that other people see my work, even before it will be finished and perfected in some cases; so I have to teach myself to get over it now. Unfortunately that will involve several episodes of panicking and hating my work and myself before that is accomplished.
In the spirit of still trying to learn to get over my public anxiety however I have decided to watch my piece on the big screen Saturday and force myself to make internal compliments on at least three things. I don't know whether or not this will actually do anything for me or help me accomplish anything but I'm going to at least try. That's what is important after all, isn't it? The effort we put forward into making ourselves better and how sincere we are in that effort. It isn't about being perfect or never feeling public anxiety again, it's just about trying my hardest and working to get past my issues.