Not My Worst Fear but Close to It:
There is a lot that can be learned from conquering your fears. Public speaking is one of those things that are difficult for me. I did everything that I could to avoid taking a public speaking class but I knew I had to force myself to face my fear.
I tend to be a shy person with people I don't know. It is not until after I warm up to them that my talkative nature comes out and I often bore people to death with my overbearing conversation. With people I don't know or with groups of people I get very nervous. I learned in speech class that this is called "communication apprehension."
BUT!!!
There is however, a very interesting exception. When I am hiding behind a costume I lighten up some; and if I am up on a stage with that costume then I get less fearful. If other actors surround me I totally break free and am completely alive! In other words; I have severe stage fright except when I am acting on stage.
Don't misunderstand me. If it is not acting behind a costume, I am still severely freaked out and I shake like a leaf in the wind. I was able to successful avoid all speaking classes throughout my college education. I have a Master of Divinity and still had other options available to me when it comes to public speech class, which I gladly accepted so I would not need to stand up in front of people to talk.
Real Need:
As a chaplain I have performed funerals and weddings, but with great nervousness. College education is not to prepare you for a good career but it is too prepare you for success in life in general. When I realized this I chose to force myself to take a public speech class in order to help me face my fear of public speaking because I knew that other people needed me to speak to them in a way that could strengthen them in their time of need.
The benefit for me is that I too found strength for my own self by conquering that fear. I still feel uncomfortable when I speak in public, but I know that I am stronger inside and I have learned formal criteria that can take my attention away from the fear as I focus on the mechanical elements that a public speech is held together by. If you are given the opportunity to take public speech class in college; I suggest that you accepted it.
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