This upcoming Saturday, I have the honor of speaking at an event, and I am so nervous! I will be speaking as a past recipient of a Born With Purpose Scholarship. As part of the scholarship, I was awarded a computer and spoke with a number of members throughout the school year. I am so grateful that I am allowed to use their organization as a way to keep building for my future. The venue is small and the members of the committee are friendly, but I am still nervous. So many things could happen: a wardrobe malfunction, transportation, makeup or hair, or I could forget my speech! I’m clearly being dramatic, but there’s so many hypothetical things that things that could happen. I wanted to speak for multiple reasons:
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I plan to advocate for people of color (POC) as well as LGBTQ members in the future, therefore, I need to learn how to speak in front of crowds.
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I have horrible anxiety and sometimes struggle in one-on-one conversations, which is something I'd like to work on ... what better way than public speaking?
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Being a clear coherent speaker is seemingly a key to success.
To beat my anxiety, I plan to do everything the day before. My hair will be done the night before, my outfit will be picked out two days ahead of time, and my speech is already drafted and being proofread. My only concern left is my execution. I pray that I don’t stutter or jumble my words. I've read article after article; none of them have eased my fear (yet). My next blog post will be my speech (written) and hopefully a video of my speech. Wish me luck and feel free to give feedback or advice!