Would You Rather Be In The Coffin Than Give The Eulogy?

Most of you must be thinking “What an absurd question!” while some of you have already answered “the coffin, it is!”

If you are falling into the second category then you might have glossophobia.

Glossophobia is commonly known as stage fright or Speaking anxiety. People who have this sort of phobia (yes, you’ve guessed right!) are afraid of public speaking. Some people have this particular phobia, some others have all together Social Anxiety Disorder.

Chronic stage fright can cause Social Anxiety Disorder too. It’s better for one to identify it sooner. We are lucky that our school and college curriculum contains various events like song competition, debate, seminar, etc. So it will be easier to identify and one can work on it to improve themselves.

Because of stagefright, many excellent performers have never come up to the stage. Many talented students get rejected in interviews or do not get promoted.

Causes of Stagefright
Lack of self-confidence is the main reason. Unpreparedness and forgetting lines can also cause stage fear. We expect ourselves to be perfect and we fear being judged quite often. History of past failure makes it more difficult to speak.

Symptoms of stage fright
Stuttering, racing pulse and rapid breathing, shaky hands and legs, trembling lips, sweaty palms, vision changes, nausea, etc are some of the symptoms which can be observed.

To get over it one must keep the following in his mind,

• You all must have heard of this phrase

Practice makes a man perfect.

You should practice what you’re going to present in advance to avoid forgetting lines. This will help you to gain confidence.

• Your thought process has an impact on your action. Stop thinking about what can go wrong. If you keep thinking that you’re going to screw up. Voila! Screwed.

• Are you judging yourself? Because they are certainly not! Even if they are, why do you care? You are doing your best. Aren’t you?

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. Bill Cosby

• Get over your past failure. Focus on what lies ahead. After spending your valuable time on practicing you must not give up on your fear. Take a deep breath and just ignore your fear for a while because you need to succeed. In order to achieve the success, you must step outside of your comfort zone.

• And YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Many famous celebrities like Lady Gaga, Adele, Mark Zuckerberg, Jackie Chan also had stage fright. You just have to believe in yourself that you can. And you’ll definitely get over it.