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Now I know the fear is something that I can dance with
Fear never goes away.
It’s like the summer days in Southern California. The scorching sun and the scary electricity bills come to haunt me every day. You think they are gone in the fall? No, they come after you at an even larger scale next year.
Public speaking? It works in the same way. Dear friends, I am the very member of this large group on the planet that constantly struggles with the fear of public speaking. It prevents me from being connected, blocks my ideas from being shared. So I joined Toastmasters. Now three years have passed. The fear of public speaking is……still haunting me every day!! But it’s way less powerful. Most importantly, I think I can now dance with the fear. Here is how.
The first step, knowing my fear. Is it the fear of messing up? The fear of judgment? Or the imposter syndrome that I shouldn’t be giving this speech at all? I need to better understand my fear, only then can I live with it. I’ve found out my fear is the gap between the ideas in my mind and the words I end up speaking out. When I speak in public, what would be an interesting idea comes out like a monster — not only for the audience but even for myself. I guess that’s why we have these universal filler words “You know”. You know!!! For me, it’s a scream in my head,
