Below is an excerpt from HLN `` Morning Express '' anchor Robin Meade 's new book , Morning Sunshine ! : How to Radiate Confidence and Feel It Too published by Hachette Book Group . The following takes place when Robin was working as a weekend anchor in Chicago , Illinois . Robin Meade 's book `` Morning Sunshine ! : How to Radiate Confidence and Feel It Too '' hits shelves September 10 . I looked down at the copy of the news story . My stomach clenched . My heart started palpitating . I think I held my breath without realizing it . The floor director gave me the cue , pointing at me as the camera came up on my face . I felt sweaty . Just as I opened my mouth to speak , the set seemed to fade into a gauzy haze . My breathing was jagged . The words came , but my voice was quivering so much it sounded like a kid singing into a big box fan on a humid summer day : `` Bray-ay-ay-ay-king new-ew-ew-ews tonigh-igh-ight . '' My hands shook uncontrollably , and I was huffing and puffing as if I were running mile twenty five of the Chicago Marathon . These were not the controlled , measured tones of someone who had been doing this for a living for years . My heart pounded in my ears , and my face flushed . I was losing it , right there with who knows how many thousands of people watching . What the hell is happening ? As I delivered the facts of the story , I did n't hear a thing that came out of my mouth . All I heard were my own thoughts . Oh , no , you 're screwing up ! Oh , no , your bosses are probably watching ! You 're going to get fired ! How will you pay your mortgage ? What will people think of you ? And then , of course , Holy crapola , where is that sound bite ? Can you see how the cause-and-effect relationship of my thoughts just engulfed me in doom and gloom ? I could n't keep my mind on the story . I totally slipped into imagining the future and the horrible repercussions of my screwup . CNN 's Virginia Cha talks to Robin about her on-air anxiety and her upcoming book » . Because I 'm writing this today , you can tell that somehow I lived to see the sound bite that evening . The whole looking-like-I-was-hopped-up-on-six-energy-drinks episode lasted only seconds . But it seemed like an eternity . Now Josh , the I'm-going-to-be-a-reporter-someday crew member , and Michael , the I-really-want-to-be-a-rock-star prompter operator , were around me , wearing the same expression you 'd have after witnessing a car wreck . `` Robin , are you okay ? Do you need a glass of water ? '' Josh 's eyes were wide open , as if he really wanted to shout , `` Dude ! '' He did n't know what to make of this . `` Yeah , please , '' I croaked . My mouth was cotton . I wished I had a trough to douse my head in instead of a tiny Dixie cup of water . `` Everything okay out there ? '' the producer chimed in on my IFB , the earpiece through which the producer and director talk to anchors during the show without the folks at home hearing it . What to say , what to say ? `` Oh , sorry about that . Wow , that was weird ! I lost my breath or something . '' I faked a half-laugh at the end of that statement for their benefit . When Josh handed me the glass of water , I was surprised to see my hands were still trembling . I noticed how incredibly weak I felt , and I noisily gulped down the water the way my dog does at his water bowl after he 's been chasing squirrels for an hour . Get it together , Robin ! Miraculously , by the time we came out of the video and I had to speak again , it was as if nothing had happened . Except for feeling wiped out , I was back to sounding authoritative and in control , even tilting my head and smirking sheepishly as if to say , You 'll forgive me for that little freak-out I just had . The truth was , I was morbidly embarrassed -- the kind of embarrassed where you 'd rather crawl under a rock than face people . It was n't the kind of embarrassment you can laugh off , as I could so easily when I was in high school show choir . As the student body filed in for the Christmas assembly , I started jumping rope with a holiday garland . I was standing out on the gymnasium floor , and with each leap over the garland I felt a swish ! After a few times , I realized the garland was catching my knee-length choir dress in the back and flicking the skirt hem waist-high , exposing my bum for the entire eighth grade seated behind me . And laugh I did ! Would n't you know it ? The school photographer caught the moment : there I am in the 1987 yearbook laughing with my mouth wide open , my eyes as big as saucers , and my hands behind me , having just pushed my skirt back down . I have no problem laughing at myself in situations like that . My point in telling you this embarrassing story is that you can see I do n't have trouble laughing off most situations . But my job ? That was another matter . No , I was not going to be able to shrug off the `` breathing problem , '' as I had called it , trying to minimize its impact , even though it had completely bamboozled me on the air . It was all I thought about after the show , driving down the darkened streets of Chicago 's Streeterville to our condo , still gripped with humiliation . I felt as though every tourist lugging her shopping bags from the Magnificent Mile back to her hotel , every vagrant panhandling for handouts , and every pedestrian who called the city home knew I had just made a complete fool of myself . My brain should have been full of concussions , I was beating myself up so much . How badly was I cursing myself ? I did n't care to stop for my usual Cheesecake Factory late-night treat , let 's put it that way . My stomach was still in knots . I did n't turn my eyes to gawk at the car pumping the thump-thitty-thump-thump bass at the stoplight , and I barely noticed anything around me on the drive home . I could n't even feign a smile for the friendly doorman as I entered our high-rise building . The ride to the thirty-seventh floor seemed to take forever . Every time the elevator halted and the door opened I held my breath , afraid the person joining me on the ride had seen the screwup and would ply me with questions . Tim met me at the door . He had seen the `` breathing problem '' on TV for himself . I learned later it bolted him upright from his viewing perch on the couch . `` Did you watch me ? '' I asked , hoping he 'd say , `` Oh , I sensed a little glitch on your part . '' Instead he just nodded , and I saw the worried look on his face . He did n't say much . He was waiting for me to go first . I hesitated . Finally , in the kind of voice you 'd use to soothe a colicky baby , he asked , `` Honey , what happened ? Are you okay ? '' I did n't know the answer . Excerpted from MORNING SUNSHINE ! : How to Radiate Confidence and Feel It Too by Robin Meade . Copyright ( c ) 2009 by Robin Meade . Reprinted by permission of Center Street , a Division of Hachette Book Group . All rights reserved .
Anxiety attacks threatened to stop Robin Meade 's career in its tracks . Her compulsion to overachieve put Meade temporarily out of touch with herself . Meade shares how she got her confidence , and her spontaneity , back . Robin Meade 's new book hits shelves September 10 .