Your name is announced and you go out and skate a fairly clean program. You do not have a heart attack out on the rink, you do not have to flee the rink in embarrassment. At the third competition, you find you aren't sweating as much, that your heart isn't beating as hard. By your fourth competition your anxiety is manageable. You learned over time that your fears were unjustified.
Many people think that learning is a conscious activity.
That you must be aware you are learning. For example, in school. In actuality, most learning takes place subconsciously. The brain is wired to be constantly taking in experience, make calculations, predict outcome and record this for future use. Experience is learning.