OVERCOMING GLOSSOPHOBIA: MY PROUDEST MOMENT//LOH #191

Hello my wonderful ladies of hive, I hope you had an amazing day today.

After going through the topic for this week I had to reflect on my life, several things crossed my mind which made me smiled, I have had so many proud moments in my life that keeps me going but one of them stands out to be the proudest moments I ever had and I am grateful I overcame.

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One of my greatest foe was FEAR, specifically the fear of public speaking (Glossophobia), GLOSSOPHOBIA is the fear of public speaking, this fear had a gripped on me for so many years and I have struggled so hard to fight this fear right from when I was younger but it seemed as I grew older the fear increased the more.

Growing up I was always an introverted and a very shy person, I could not even speak up in front of my class mates let alone answering questions in the class.

I found pleasure in expressing myself through writing than speaking out, this made me to miss out on several opportunities, I could not express myself, share ideas or give opinions in public , I’d rather stay quiet than speak out in public. I felt like I was in stuck in a cage and I could not express myself freely. I felt terrified whenever I even make an attempt to speak in the crowd, my heart would race, I would sweat profusely and my mind would go blank.

I remember avoiding debates presentations not because I could not do it but the fear withheld me. One thing happened in my SS1 (Senior Secondary School one), we had a debate presentation in school and our class was among the classes to present the debate, my class teacher came in the class and appointed people in my class to represent the entire class in the debate.

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Since I was one of the best students in class she equally appointed me, hmmmm! That was one of the worst moment I ever experienced in my high school days, I went home and could not eat I kept thinking of how I would stand before the crowd, the next day I went to our class teacher and pleaded with her to replace me with someone else, but she refused.

I intentionally did not practise so that I would be eliminated, two days later, she called all of us to recite it before her, all my classmates did it well but I could not, she flogged me so much that I had to go back to learn it at all cost.

I would never forget that day, I went home and started practicing it, on the D-day I summoned courage to do it and that was my first time speaking in the public, the feeling was so much and I felt like sublimating out of there, my heart raced, my voice shook and I skipped so many points.

How I manage to start speaking up in the public was a miracle and I would never forget that day. It all started in the church, our Youth director announced that there would be a brief meeting after the service so in the course of the meeting I was appointed to be the Youth Secretary, that was how it started .

I wrote minutes for every meetings days and I would have to present the previous minutes whenever we had meetings, this singular act of presenting minutes helped me to overcome this fear. I started presenting minutes in a crowd of youths fearfully and with time I got used to it, that was how my fear of public speaking gradually died of.

Today I am so happy that I can boldly do anything and not just public speaking in the public and that has remain my proudest moment ever, I am no longer the shy and introverted me, I am now confident to express my opinion before people.

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People who have not been in this shoes might not understand how it feels to overcome this fear, but to everyone who can relate I hope you understand why this remains my proudest moment.

If there is anyone still battling with this fear, I’ll advice that you just start gradually, I know it is hard but just keep trying and always remember to meditate on 1st Timothy 1:7 “ For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” and you will gradually overcome it.

Thank you all for reading

This post is in response to the Ladies of Hive Community Contest #191

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