Overcome That Fear of Public Speaking | The Change Anything Blog

My favorite story about public speaking comes from my freshman year roommate. This roommate, let?s call her Ashley, took a public speaking course in high school to try to overcome her innate fear of talking in front of a crowd. When the first course exam came up, everyone was asked to give a 5-minute presentation in front of the class. Some kids had shaking hands, some nervously twitched, and one kid even started to tear up. But Ashley outdid them all. When her turn to speak came, she walked to the front of the class, took one look around at her expectant peers, and immediately turned to sprint for the door. Needless to say, her final grade in that class wasn?t as high as she was hoping.

But that?s not where the story ends. Over the first year of college I saw Ashley face her fear of crowds over and over again until it eventually became manageable, and then, enjoyable. By the end of the year she was volunteering to be the spokeswoman for group presentations and giving talks at her church. So what had changed?

Ashley was still the same person who had fled when faced with public speaking, but now, just a few years later, she could stand and confidently address a crowd. For her, the difference lay not only in the repeated confrontation of her fear, but also in her understanding that her fear did not define her.

Self-help writer Stin Hansen explains this principle in a blog post entitled ?Relaxed and Stress Free Public Speaking?:

Pick up a pen or small pebble in your hand and hold on to it tightly. Pretend for a moment that this object that you have picked up is your anxiety or fear about public speaking, and that your hand represents your gut or your consciousness.

Now, open your hand and roll the object around in it. Notice that you are the one holding on to it and that it is not attached to your hand. The same is true with your feelings. Your feelings and anxieties are as attached to you as this object is attached to your hand.

Just as simply as you could choose to let go of what you are holding in your hand, you could let go of this anxiety and fear about speaking in public.

So whatever your fear level of public speaking might be, you can recognize that it can be controlled and overcome. Just because you have fears does not make you are a fearful person. Just because you?re not used to dealing with a phobia doesn?t mean that you can?t. Change how you view your fear of public speaking and change how you view yourself.

No running for the exit involved.

Source: http://blog.changeanything.com/2012/10/overcome-that-fear-of-public-speaking/

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