GENESE

Fear of Speaking in Public

 Sep. 6. 2012

Today I'll uncover one of my secrets, my weaknesses. - Can you imagine what the top fears of most people are? People fear snakes, spiders, heights, disease and death. One of such dreadful fears might be fear of giving a speech. Yes, some people fear speaking in public, in academic term glossophobia. The Greek word glossa means tongue and phobos means fear or dread. Many people only have this fear, while others may also have social phobia or social anxiety disorder. It is characterized by intense fear in social situations causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some parts of daily life.

Now you'll laugh at me, if I would say I belong to those people, because some of you know my former profession. But not only in the childhood but also during almost thirty years of my life as a teacher, I still have had glossophobia. Is it then some sort of mental illness? I doubt it, because I'm still alive. When did such symptoms begin and is it cured? To answer those questions would be a long story.

To make it shorter I'll begin with the relationship with my siblings. Just imagine! My late mother bought us, me and my younger sister, 2 different hair ribbons, one was red and the other shocking pink. My sister chose the red one first, and then I didn't say anything and took the rest, the pink one. Next day my sister changed her mind and said: “I'll have that hot pink!” Even then I didn't say anything, because I couldn't find any suitable words against her. Among siblings or among peers later in the school my remarks were always a bit awkward, inarticulate. Every time when I tried to find the right word at the right moment, it worked not so perfect as I expected.

To return to my subject "my anxiety of speaking in public" - it's symptoms peaked in the middle school, when I began to learn English, it was a kind of nightmare to pronounce strange sounds like 'f', 'v' or 'th' etc. Hence I entirely refused to read English books aloud in the classroom. I just couldn't do it and made it difficult for English teachers.

Then I became a teacher, ironically. It was my job to speak in front of people! Furthermore, stage fright may be a symptom of glossophobia. I was frightened on the stage in front of audience. So I had to prepare my lectures carefully and I spent much more time than anyone could imagine. I usually wrote the whole contents beforehand, so my lectures were already dead when I gave lectures the next day. But I did it.

Coming back to what I was trying to explain, people can manage on their own with some vulnerable points. So don't try to overcome your weaknesses but try to accept them. You can live though them! They will make you more humane and also unique. Humans are not robots designed with ideal skills and abilities!