Tackling Challenges

Sweaty palms. Body overheating. Lack of eye contact with most of the audience. Fixating on a comforting face. Talking really fast and missing key points unless I have notes EVEN if I endlessly prepared. 

This is my response to standing up and talking to any size audience. There is just something about being the main focal point in the room that causes me to immediately revert to panic mode. YET if I am sitting down, I am in my zone, steadfast, AND confident.

I feel quite ridiculous and have began opening up to people about this trait. Most are surprised to hear this development since this was not always the case.

As a child, I always wanted to present. Whether I was at Girl Scouts or in school, I was one of the first to volunteer. Ummm hello?! 6th grade Salutatorian here! Somewhere along the way, I suppose I shrank myself and standing before an audience now makes me feel open and vulnerable. Is it because I no longer HAD to do it routinely, I became disconnected with something I once loved?! Instead of embracing my sparkle, I allowed myself to accept being unccomfortable. My main focus was flight and NOT execution. How sway?!

And you know what makes me the most grateful?! The support I have received in facing this head on. A Ted Talk landed in my inbox, and I listened it on the way to work instead of The Breakfast Club. Insightful! There was a book recommendation from my mama, which I quickly downloaded on my kindle.

Somehow I never got around to opening this book. And then I did. Shana & Rands said they would read it with me. Pure magic.

Then the offers of helping me practice so it will just become second nature. Standing. Speaking. Being Heard. Shining.

So you know what this means, right?! I need to slow down. BREATHE. And tackle this challenge. I refuse to let it reside within me any longer.