*sigh*

One of the hardest parts of dealing with people in a public setting is "dealing with
people in a public setting". No one likes criticism. It's a legitimate struggle to separate yourself from the situation and realize that people aren't attacking you (unless they are) and possibly not even even saying something bad about your actions. They're simply stating an opinion, it may be legitimate or may be born of ignorance but at the end of the day it's just what they think. People will judge the criticism and your reaction to it so there's value in not loosing your cool and loosing the group\audience simply because you loose sight of what's truly important at that moment. I'm fortunate in that I'm "legitimately attempting" to reign in my tendencies towards freaking out and that I'm surrounded by people that don't mind taking the brunt of it when I fail in those attempts. Behavior change is a difficult thing, but I'm working on it...baby steps...every day is baby steps.