On Public Speaking

Overcoming the fear of public speaking

Our insecurities and fears debilitate us from unlocking our true, authentic selves. Heights, the dark, spiders, ghosts: words that can cause one’s blood pressure to increase.

Fears haunt us in our waking life everyday and attack when we allow them to.

They’re alive and raw.

When I am standing in front of a room presenting a project the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I allow a series of what if questions to overcome my preparation: What if my mind goes blank? What if everything I’ve prepared is a complete waste? What if the intonation of my voice isn’t loud enough?

By nature, these questions diminish any form of confidence I had once built myself. It’s true, we are our own worst enemies. Most of our insecurities and fears are rooted in the unknown, the possibility of not knowing what is to come, and ultimately the fear of being rejected.

A few years ago, I was asked to speak on a panel to offer advice to incoming freshman wanting to pursue journalism as their career choice. Before that I hadn’t been up in front of a room to speak formerly in years. The build up caused a great deal of nervousness. I needed to appear intelligent, in the know, and confident.

I have spoken to professionals who have been presenting for years and years and they still get nervous when they speak in front of a crowd.

In retrospect, my participation on the panel gave me insight on how to read an audience. Not only that, but it allowed me to pay attention to my breath. When I am speaking before a room I have the strong tendency to rush through my words. Rather than being in the moment with where I am, I think: When is this going to be over?

Growing up, I was accustomed to balancing and learning three languages simultaneously: Chinese (Cantonese) and Vietnamese at home with my parents, and then English when I entered school. But in order to succeed in school I had to lose my Chinese and Vietnamese accent. My parents encouraged me to stumble into the English language, embarrass myself as much as humanly possible, and grow from the experience because they did the exact same when they immigrated from Vietnam 25 years ago.

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