Panic,
Embarrassed, Exposed
Those were
the feeling I had when I walked on to the stage in from of an audience for the
first time in my life. This was in the school days and I was acting as one of
the lead characters in a play. Soon I stepped on to the stage I looked at the
audience. There were too many people in that huge hall. I glanced only once. That was
enough. A shiver passed through my body, tongue-tied, and I was frozen. The
teacher who scripted and directed the play appeared at the corner of the stage
and started whispering me the dialogue.
(Teacher)“Cowards
die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once”
(Me-
hastily)” Cowradies many times before deaths; valiant never tastebuds”
A play
supposed to be a serious one ended as a comedy show. Even after I finished the audience was trying to figure out the plethora of new words I invented on the
stage.
Stage fear,
Fear of Public speaking, Fear of facing an audience. I am not alone in this.
The fear of public speaking always tops the list of fears. 46% of Americans fear
that. This fear comes from Anxiety. Another study says that 85% feel anxiety in
high stake speaking. I think the rest 15% may be lying. I don’t have to do
much research on this. In the capacity of Vice President of Education of toastmaster club, I contact
almost everyone for planning each meeting, just t fill 2 speaking slots and
other 3 important roles. Many times I ended up in contacting other toastmaster clubs to fill
up the roles.
Apart from
leave and unavailability the reasons I hear mostly circles around the word
anxiety.
What people will think of me?
What if I fail?
I need more time to prepare to
prepare, so that I don’t forget my lines.
What if I couldn’t connect with
audience and communicate my idea
What if I fail to convince
audience?
Do you
remember any other time these questions trouble you??
In a meeting when your turn
comes?
When the speaker asks for
questions after presentations
Again when someone asks about
your ideas
Or when taking some critical
decisions and you have a different thought?
Or least in selecting a topic for a speech you wanted to give?
Isn’t so?
Because of the anxiety we hide our ideas and silence the pondering questions within us. Thus
closing the doors to your unique ideas that no one else might have. Those
ideas are yours, grown in you, just to stay within you, and die prematurely.
That’s a miss, A miss for you, A miss for your friends and family, to the
society.
One of my colleagues is passing through this same phase. His ideas are impressive and very
much unique, which can change the way the developments and applications
are maintained are done, and also give fantastic customer experience. If taken a step ahead,
his idea can potentially become a startup with a big chance of success. But every
time he presents his ideas, the Anxiety takes it over and rests you can imagine.
He is still my colleague.
In 1889,
one Indian lawyer went through the same traumatizing experience of anxiety. He
was appearing for his first case in his career, but he couldn’t utter any word.
He ran out of the courtroom in humiliation. Later in his age, he managed his
anxiety by welcoming it with an open heart and it began to fade away. He
communicated his ideas loud and clear and it starts resonating within the heart
of millions of Indians. He was able to inspire them, unite them in the fight
against colonial powers. The one we ran away from the court led the nation to
independence and become the father of our nation.
There are
many such men and women in the world, who overcame the fear of public speaking,
let their idea flow through freely, which changed the course of their life and
of the world. Abraham Lincon, Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Jefferson, Winston
Churchill, Harisson Ford, Mr. Bean Rowa Atkin. The list is long. The toastmaster club is a small invitation to you to join that list. Come on to the
stage, Say “Hello” to your anxiety, embrace it, and conquer it. A leader is
made.
“Cowards
die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once”
