A
female
age
30-35,
* Need Advice
writes:I get really nervous when I have to read something out at school how can I stop that? Reply to this Question
Share |
Fancy yourself as an agony aunt? Add your answer to this question! A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (27 March 2007): the best solution to stage fright is ... brace yourself ... practice. i know -- kind of sucks. the thing is, a lot of people are terrified of public speaking and/or have terrible stage fright. i've had it my whole life. lots of famous people do. but if you do it enough, you learn how to channel the emotions. it's not that you stop being nervous, necessarily--it's just that you get used to the feeling, and the nerves aren't quite as scary. b/c you know exactly what to expect.
so, the first bit of advice is to volunteer for as many times as you can to read something in school / speak in public. it'll suck, but believe me--much better to deal with this now, while you're young, than to be haunted by it forever.
to make those talks better, there are lots of things you can do:
1. practice reading your speech (or whatever it is) out loud to yourself ahead of time. seriously- stand in front of a full-length mirror (or as close to one as you can get), and read/talk into it. if you have a tape recorder, record yourself and listen to it.
2. practice reading out loud to your parents (and siblings, if you have any). have them sit down in the living room, and stand up in front of them. try to make it very formal. it'll feel a bit weird, but you'll feel less uncomfortable than in a classroom of your peers. you could also talk to your teacher and tell him/her that this is something you're struggling with, and you'd like to practice on them one day after class for a few minutes. my guess is that most teachers would be happy to let you try them out for a few minutes.
3. check out toastmasters (www.toastmasters.org) and see if you can practice with someone from that group. toastmasters is a group specifically set up for people who want to practice their public speaking skills with each other. i think they might limit their membership to ppl 18 and up, but they might have an idea about similar options for younger ppl, so it'd be worth looking into, anyway.
Good luck!!!
A
female
reader, Kali-Mah  +, writes (27 March 2007):
I had this problem at school pretty severely. I had a speech impediment when I was a child and had to go to speech/reading therapy for around 6 years before the problem was aversely fixed. But even after this, I was still terrified of speaking publicly. I was later diagnosed with dyslexia, which made my fear even worse. I ended up only ever speaking when I absolutely had to. Some things a person will never get over. Some things are near impossible to overcome. I later realized that everyone has to be who they are for a reason. If I have a problem speaking in front of people, there will come a time in my life, where this helped me, strengthened me in other ways, or gave me the courage to do things other people couldn't. There is a balance in everyone, each of us with our strengths and weaknesses. There is no flaw in who we are, just others opinions in us. As for not being nervous, you will always be nervous, just realize your grades and your education are on the line, you'll realize there are some things you have no control over. The best thing that helped me when I was nervous when I absolutely had to read aloud, was to breathe.
Good luck!
...............................
A
male
reader, home_land  +, writes (27 March 2007):
 hellothink that you are the hero who is telling the people in his town dont worry i am here with you and for you feel that and let it go i use to do that when i was your age and you will make it try that and let me know,good luck
...............................
|
