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Transform Fear into Excitement
What causes you fear?
For many people in a professional setting, there’s a fear of public speaking and expressing your opinion. It can be on a large stage, perhaps TEDx in front of tens of thousands of people, fully mic-ed and camera-ready. It can be in a leadership meeting where you feel like you don’t quite belong, yet you have something to say. You see that something isn’t right in the work being presented, or the consensus of sameness in the room and you want to speak up and voice your opinion. It can be in a 1–1 conversation where you have to tell someone how you really feel about their performance, or communication style, and its impact on you, but you really hate these confrontations.
When I feel this fear of public speaking, there are hundreds of butterflies in my stomach, flapping their wings against each other in the confined space and pushing and fighting to be released. It’s a feeling of palpitation and agitation. My heart beats faster and I feel a tightness in my chest. The temples of my forehead pulse and I can feel the shadow of a headache starting to form. I’m often flushed, with a pinkish-red tinge rising upwards on my cheeks. My jaw is tense and rigid. The words are choking in my throat. They’re on the tip of my tongue but still unable to come out.
