This is not a How-To guide, but my own personal account of how I confronted my own fear of speaking.
People will probably not believe me when I tell them that I was extremely shy as a kid. They’ll usually say no way; we hear you speak all the time; you don’t look nervous at all; you speak for a living! But it’s true. I was a shy child. I wouldn’t speak unless I was spoken to, and it would usually be a one-word reply. I would cower away from situations that would involve giving an opinion or utter a thought in public. That would be hard to imagine since what I do today revolves around the act of speaking and hearing my own voice. In fact, I get paid to use my voice to speak. Specifically to narrate for corporate videos, commercials and documentaries on a wide variety of subjects for different industries.
So how did I end up using the very tool which held me back when I was young? To be honest, it happened gradually over the years once I started working. I immersed myself in situations where speaking was the main action. As a young advertising executive, a tremendous amount of communication and interaction was needed within the organisation and with clients of course. It was hard at first, felt awkward and there were many failed moments. But you know what they say, live and learn. It was also around the same time, three decades ago, when I started doing voiceovers to earn extra income. Loved it then. Still loving it now.
Interacting with people from different backgrounds, started my own business, being married and eventually having kids of my own – each milestone unleashed different facets of my voice. The pivotal point was when I lost my husband and became a widow. The fear and anxiety that resulted from that incident forced me to change myself on so many levels. Basically, I dug even deeper within myself and confronted any negative self-beliefs that had kept me quiet for many years. I learned how to overcome these obstacles, slowly. But for me, facing them head-on was the best way.
Today, I share this knowledge with others who may be going through the same thing I did. I try to uncover their issues and together, we learn various methods to deal with their unique fears of public speaking. It’s my goal to see people be able to use their voice to be heard and to connect with the world around them, whether for work or for personal reasons.
There is plenty of advice out there. Just search, ways to overcome the fear of speaking and you’ll find thousands of links. But the one piece of advice I find to be the most effective to overcome the fear of speaking, in the long run, is this …
JUST STAND AND DELIVER. DO IT OFTEN. IT’LL GET BETTER EACH TIME.
For a space to practice, to get coached on voice and speech, get in touch with me. Drop me a line at info@vocapedia.co
