I hate speech. It’s not the stress of picking one out and memorizing it, it’s the fact you have to read it in front of people. Yes, I have stage fright. I hate speech and I hate public speaking. So there I was in class, being asked to say my speech, I tried everything to get out of it, then came the tears. Yep, I was that awkward kid crying in English class. Isn’t that great? I was just standing in class...crying. Oh not only was I in front of the whole class, but my speech coach. she called me over and told me we’d have to go out of the room, luckily when we went in the hallway there was only one kid and he was easily avoidable. After a forty minute, much needed pep talk in the teacher’s workroom, we decided i’d write my own speech, so here i am.

I think it’s strange, the fact people are scared to talk in front of other people. scientists say that speech anxiety can start from you being a shy child, which is funny in my case, because i’m far from shy. According to an article in the Boston Globe, public speaking is the number one fear of Americans! NUMBER ONE! three out of every four people suffer from speech anxiety, that’s 75%! it’s been proven that women are as equally affected as men, but it is true that men seek more help to cure it then women do. although there’s no scientific way to prove why i don't like it, i have a pretty good idea.


I was nine years old when my grandma died, i took it pretty hard considering she was my closest grandma. we all knew she was going to die, but it still wouldn’t be easy. she had Alzheimer's, so she barely remembered anything, we didn’t really see it coming this fast, but one night, God decided it was her time. at her funeral, i offered to do the reading, i was so confident that i’d nail it! so when it was my turn, i got up there, i looked at everyone, i thought of my grandma, and i started bawling. that’s basically how it all started. i was crying so hard i couldn’t say a word, and now every time i get up in front of people, i just can’t say anything.

So why should you care that other people fear talking in public when you don’t? Well, let’s say you’re doing a group project, i don’t think you’ll want your partner to get up there and freeze, you’ll both get a bad grade...and you probably don’t want that either. not being able to speak in public can also affect people from getting jobs that they deserve. if they get nervous in the interview they might not be able to share their ideas because they’re too afraid to speak their mind. the benefit, once people learn to speak in public, they become more confident. this helps them stand up for themselves and others.

you really should know what you can do to help. as i’ve previously stated, a lot of people who have this problem get it as a child. One way to help prevent children from getting this is to give them more opportunities to out grow it. at school, they could do readings at church, read out loud during class, participate in presentations, try anything to give them a little extra practice with public speaking. if your a friend or family of a person with this problem, you could try to get them professional help, and eventually, depending on the situation, it might be able to be cured, or at least get better. also, if someones starts breaking down, or freaking out, you can try to give them a pep talk, and be understanding with it. don’t be rude about it, try to help them succeed. it’s not an easy thing to get through, but it is possible.

so, i guess that’s my story. and i actually got through it..which means something has to be working.