Fear is an evil shape shifter that takes over and makes decisions for you.
We allow fear to become stronger as we become weaker. Fear and insecurity suddenly became best friends, and you are not welcome to make decisions for yourself.
Fear is an evil shape shifter that takes over and makes decisions for you.
We allow fear to become stronger as we become weaker. Fear and insecurity suddenly became best friends, and you are not welcome to make decisions for yourself.
Fear can be displayed in many forms, my biggest fear was public speaking.
Public speaking began an issue for me in high school. I was new to the English language and presenting in my classes with broken English was embarrassing. I was insecure and clearly uncomfortable with my surroundings. My insecurity took the best of me, making public speaking my worst enemy. Fear was my driver and it had me locked up in a trunk.
In college, you are required to take communication-public speaking, and I was terrified. The class consisted of three major speeches that needed to be five minutes in length.
According to Statistic Brain 74 percent of people suffer from speech anxiety. I’m not alone, I’m not the only one experiencing it but this percentage should be less than 50 percent.
The first day of class we had to present for two minutes to introduce ourselves. I thought to myself I will fail this class, or miss class so I do not have to present, allowing fear to determine my success.
My class was welcoming, as we were all experiencing fear. We were united, fear would not run our class. In order to put myself out of the comfort zone, I made sure I knew my speech topics. My topics were teen drama, advertising tactics, and feminism.
To my surprise, our teacher decided that it was mandatory to record one of our speeches, which made the presentation twice harder. It was also required to watch yourself present which I was not comfortable with. Watching myself present was eye opening, I was finally able to present leaving my insecurity behind.
It was empowering. I don’t think I was aware of the way I drive myself. It showed me that I am indeed comfortable and most importantly capable of presenting, which I thought was impossible before. I actually enjoy public speaking now to some extent, we can update our status from blocked to acquaintances. Why did everything seem so scary, when it was so easy and empowering? You are teaching people about things that you are passionate about, that is exciting. Fear turned all public speaking connotations to negative ones.
I used to think of careers that would require the least public speaking. When I picked journalism I was unsettled since I was aware of all the public speaking it consisted of. I often wished that I would get good at presenting magically, but that’s not how you grow or improve. Taking this class was a personal challenge and it taught me more about myself than I expected it to. Putting yourself out of your comfort zone is nerve-racking but it is effective. I’m not into politics so I was sure to myself that I was never going to write for the news section for the school’s newspaper. Ironically, I am the assistant news editor and will be news editor next semester, isn’t life funny sometimes. I spoke to one of my journalism teachers about how I felt as the news assistant and he told me, “You know you are going to be news editor if your an assistant right?.” I was panicking because I was way far out of my comfort zone but I knew how big and a great opportunity that would be for me; so I took that opportunity. My teacher gave me a piece of advice, he said, “Fake it till you become it.” This has become my motto.
Putting myself out of my comfort zone has become my best friend, all the great opportunities I turned down in the past due to fear and insecurity. Some of the best things have happened to me while out of my comfort zone.
Watching my presentation meant so much to me that just passing a class and obtaining a good grade. This has taught me that I’m free, I’m the driver now. Fear takes over so easily, but not anymore. This class has made me grow so much, I will forever be grateful for these teachings. Putting yourself out of your comfort zone is a great tool that will teach you more about yourself than what you want to overcome.
