Fear of public speaking comes from an experience, we are not born scared, as babies we will scream in public, as kids we will sing in the street and ask lots of questions but something happens along the way.
It might be you come from a family where the belief is children should be seen and not heard, putting you in the situation where you were constantly told to shush, maybe you were surrounded by more dominant siblings, so were forced in to suppression, it could be you were asked to speak in class, you said the wrong thing and all the other kids laughed at you.
I suffered with a fear of public speaking well in to my late 20’s, I can clearly trace back to a very significant moment during my childhood that caused me to clam up, I was seven years old and rehearsing for the school Christmas play.
The nativity play involved the entire junior school; if you weren’t a wise man, shepherd, angel, back end of a donkey or some other character from the biblical drama you were defaulted to be part of the choir - now before we continue this story it’s important you understand I have always had a very low, baritone voice, if you have no idea what I sound like, watch any video on my website and imagine that voice on a seven year old..... back to the story - as part of the school choir our job was to sing our precious little hearts out to classics such as ‘we three kings’ ‘little donkey’ and the of course we can’t forget ‘away in a manger’.
Being a seven year old with a voice like a megaphone it was very quickly realised that I sounded more like a barking dog than a heavenly angel, rather than place me in a lead speaking role - clearly I was destined to be Joseph, after all I sounded like I should be sporting a beard - I was silenced and psychologically scarred in one swoop. In front of all the other kids I was told ‘Anthony all we can hear is you so could you just pretend to sing instead’
A seven year old kid enjoying the joys of singing without a care in the world suddenly hit with a new identity that took 20 years to overcome.
Today I live my passion and use my voice to connect and inspire others to communicate with more confidence and impact....I now get paid to use the one thing I was told not to use at school, take that Mrs F.
If you fear public speaking dig deep and identify what event (or events) caused your fear, what is it that caused you to go in to your shell? Then take action, look forward and rewrite history.
As a side note, if you are a parent, teacher or have kids in your care, the words you use will shape their future, PLEASE be conscious and deliberate with your use of language as you guide them forward.
If you have any questions about this topic please reach out,
Thanks for dropping by,
Anthony - Take Action, Create Your Story.