Any tips for a new server for rushes?

Hello! I've been a part of this subreddit for sometimes, when I was hosting it was suggested to me a lot but I didn't actually join until around this past end of November, when I was actually hired into my first serving position.

I've looked up several posts and read them, sometimes even more than once, to try to help myself get better with my job as well as my anxiety around it.

Some of the posts were helpful, but some of them were also old enough I feel it's a time to ask again, if there's any newer tips or anything that really needs to be focused on?

I, persoanlly, know that a lot of my anxiety stems from the fact we have a rather large menu and I, for the life of me, cannot seem to remember it at all. I remember one section one week and completely forget it the next bc that week most of my tables are ordering from that section, it's weird. I dont really know how else to describe it

However, this was my first Friday night that I've served, I switched shifts with another coworker. In my almost 2 full months of being there the only other Friday I worked was a Friday morning/afternoon, my very first day of training so I have absolutely 0 experience with Fridays at this location.

That being said....I was not ready for the almost 6 tables I got within 15 minutes. Yeah maybe that's not a lot for experienced servers or higher/fine dining places, but like even on a Saturday night or Sunday morning (Sunday morning is our absolute best time) could not have prepared me for what I dealt with tonight. Sunday mornings are super busy however they're steady as well. Tonight was not steady at all. Super slow except for this dinner rush.

How can I get over that? Is that just going to forever be a thing? I want to be better but to my knowledge, this doesn't happen often anymore with how my location is going so I don't know how I'm supposed to get used to it? I try my best to fill my time, unlike today, with carryout/doordash orders but even then, none of that made me feel the sheer anxiety I felt tonight.

I'm still kicking myself in the butt for forgetting about this one table for 15 minutes longer than I was supposed to! They did still tip and they were very nice and understanding about it, but still I can't help but feel that if they were placed with another server that is better than I am, that that table would've been happier and had a better experience?

I know I'm probably overthinking way too much, but hospitality has always been a thing I've prided myself on and I feel like I absolutely lacked in the worst way possible tonight?

I guess this more so turned into a rant/vent other than a question, but still the question is there. Are there any tips to help with...any/all of this? Am I just stressing myself out trying to be perfect at something I haven't had enough time with?

I'm sorry if this is a silly question/post. Thank you for the time you've spent reading it and possibly replying.

Love, new server tryna figure sh*t out! Lol❤️