I had a breakthrough in Public Speaking during my last 2 visits to a local Toastmasters Club. I don’t understand why I did not feel the fear of speaking in public like I used to anymore when I had not done this in the past 7 months. Is it because speaking in front of a couple of dozen people now is nothing compared to being interviewed on TV and being on stage to speak to over 500 people during MC1? I don’t know the answer but I am loving the new fearless feeling I am experiencing when I was called up to the stage.
On Feb. 19, being the first day of Chinese New Year, I spontaneously decided to go and visit a local TM Club in Scottsdale. It’s been 7 months since I last went. The reason I started TM 13 months ago was to overcome my fear of public speaking in preparation for the thank you speech during MC1. I attended 4 TM clubs in Vancouver for 6 months. On a scale of 1 to 10, my confidence level went from minus 2 to positive 5 at the end of 6 months. I remember my heart was not beating super fast and I was not sweating anymore when I did my last speech.
But what I experienced here over the last 2 weeks was way beyond that because I felt totally calm, heart beating completely normal and I spoke as if I was speaking off stage. It was quite magical! This was the feeling I had always hoped to achieve but not something I could picture I would ever get to. I had always been very confident when I am engaging with people as long as I was not on stage. So now that it feels the same. I feel so complete. My self esteem raised by a lot more and therefore I am feeling very grateful to Toastmasters and the mentors I had that include Paul, Nelson and Desmond.
The club members here are extremely warm and friendly. As usual, I had to introduce myself and then got up to do a table topic. The question was “Are you raised in a family that are dreamers or doers?” That was an easy topic for me because of my mom who has been more of a doer than a thinker, least of all just a dreamer. Despite having mellowed considerably, she is still much more dynamic and active than other people her age. I had everyone’s full attention and I even got voted to receive the ribbon for the best speaker for the “Best Table Topics.”
I went back the following week. The table topic question I got was “What is your view on procrastination?” Another easy topic since I am so far from being one, therefore it was not hard for me to express my views passionately about it. I used pauses, vocal variety and body gestures very well too. So again, I got voted for being the best speaker for “Best Table Topics” award.
I remember when I did my last speech. Then, I said good bye to everyone because I felt I had no reason to go back anymore when I finished my thank you speech for MC. But having the breakthroughs during these 2 weeks, I felt like I found a new meaning to go back to TM again. And that is to “give back” by sharing my experience with others who are struggling like I did. I went through the whole process so it will be very easy for me to mentor others to overcome their fears too. Another reason of going back is to learn techniques to become a better speaker now that I don’t need to deal with my fear of being on stage anymore.