You are seated among 100 people as an audience of a show. Just above the Main Curtain or the 'Grand Dape' is a grid that says- "Become a Public Speaker - By Greg Kohler"
In the darkness of the Grand Auditorium, a spotlight shines on the main speaker. He asks the crowd, "Who will come on the stage with me right now and speak on any topic I give them?"
Your shaking legs suddenly stop moving side to side, your breath halts and you stop blinking.. as if something inside you is in a dilemma. Your right hand wants to rise but the shackles you have so trustfully buckled around your mind don't allow you to do so. Your Mind is only trying to protect you right?
Is this self-defense or perpetual complacency?
My hands would rise. Faster than anyone else and higher than everyone. All this without a thought.
No, I don't mind even if I get a topic I know nothing about. I'll at least know some of the terms he mentions in his sentence. If not even that, I'll ask him for a new topic. But I'll go.
My hands and legs might visibly tremble as I open my mouth to speak a few lines, I know this, but I'll go. Sometimes I might mumble in the middle of my sentence, taking my time to form the next phrase, but I'll go.
Why? Because I am tired of sitting as audience when I keep seeing myself up there. Tired of not having the courage to do what I know I deeply desire. I am weary of seeing someone else taking the opportunity, knowing damn well that the same chance was served to me on a platter.
You don't have to be a perfectionist, just do it.
An introverted unsociable boy, having stage fright, got the opportunity to address the gathering, to make them listen. And listen they did. Time and again after. And that boy is me, Aiman.
Recently I was invited to the school I graduated from, for a Model United Nations (MUN) conference, as the head of International Press. In the closing ceremony, I had to give a round-up of my committee proceedings.
I was sitting, as the chairpersons of other committees went before me. Even after years of prior speaking on that same stage, I had some kind of excitement or nervousness in me. Nonetheless, I went up there, head held high with a bright smile. I grasp the podium mic in my hands and that's when all the fear I had, ceases to exist! In the middle of the speech I realized, I kept looking down time and again for no reason. That was something to improve on.
But overall, I gave a good impromptu speech, thanks to my prior speaking experience. After getting off the stage, I told my teacher who helped me become a public speaker about how my nervousness transitioned into confidence as soon as I held the mic.
She told me something that I would never forget for life.
We are fearful of the unknown.
When we take a step on the stage and hold the mic firm in our grip, that's when we own that stage.
All fear dissolves with ownership.
Nothing feels better than feeling amazing. A brave choice will always make you proud of yourself. You'll never regret being brave. Courage should be your default response...