Posts Tagged ‘Fear of Public Speaking’

We often talk about the fear of public speaking but do we stop to think about what we are really afraid of? I would suggest that for most people it is not the act of speaking that is the problem – after all, most of us don’t have a problem speaking. Whether it is talking with one other person or in a group of friends, being afraid is not a common problem – in fact most of us need to stop speaking and listen more..

So if we are not afraid of speaking, then there must be some other component that makes us afraid of “public speaking” – could it be the “public”?

Of course it is – and that confirms that were not really afraid of the speaking component – we’re really afraid of the audience.

But why?

Does the audience have some sort of power or authority over us? Can they make are lives miserable if we fail even in the most minute way? In some cases the answer is a very real “yes” – however those cases are very rare and when they do exist the individuals can usually make our lives miserable whether we fail or not.

In most cases however, it’s something else.

Most of us are afraid of being humiliated?

Humiliated if we are boring, humiliated if we stutter, humiliated if we forget our material for even a second or even humiliated because we can’t figure out what to do with our hands.

But what are the chances of this really happening? We don’t want to answer these questions because we don’t want to face the very real fear – yet it is the unknown that makes it that much more terrifying?
Read the rest of this entry »