You know that thing they say about people with low self-esteem, I was a good example of it.
I was the kind of person that was very shy and could barely speak in public without a trembling voice and shaky hands.
I never participated in any public speaking activities because of my shy and reserved nature.
While in school, we were asked to do a research and that everyone will be asked to give a presentation one person at a time.
My heart started racing because I was scared to face the crowd. I quickly went to the teacher and told her that I will not be present in school on the day of presentation.
She laughed and said to me “Faith, I know the reason why you don't want to come to school. It is because you are scared of facing the crowd.”
"One advice that I have for you is this try to pull up your sock.
*"I am certain that you will give a great presentation if only you put your heart to it. Moreover you have enough time to conduct your research and prepare something valuable. So my dear Faith, use your faith" she ended her talk and I was left speechless.
I left her office and began walking back to the class. When I got to class, I pondered deeply on her words as they kept resounding in my head. Finally, I came to a conclusion that I will try to overcome this stage fright.
I started working on myself, participating in class activities and associating with my classmates. I prepared the research on the topic that was given to me and I also got ready for the presentation.
It was a group project and I was made the group leader. It was a case where everyone would research and come up with something tangible for the project. So everyone in the group was given a topic to work on and come up with a solution. I tried my best to do it since I didn't want to let the group down as the group leader.
On the day of the presentation, I was a little nervous but I put up some courage telling myself "Faith, you got this. You can do this". My group and I came out and lined up on the stage for the presentation and the judges were there to judge our performance.
As the leader, I made the introduction by speaking briefly about the topic we were handling and I stepped down for each person to speak on the subtopics given to him or her.
After everything was done I made the conclusion and we walked away for the next group.
After everything, my teacher called me to her office and sat me down and began talking to me.
"Faith I'm sure by now you know that running from our problems is not the best thing to do. But standing and facing it head on is where we derive the courage to overcome the problem."
"Thank you ma. I have learnt and I'm so glad that you did not encourage me to be absent rather you pushed me to becoming better. I appreciate your efforts ma. Thank you". I replied with all sincerity of heart.
From that day on I started participating in public speaking activities and gradually I overcame my issue with stage fright.
I will forever be grateful to my teacher for helping me overcome low self-esteem and also for not giving up on me.
The encouragement I got from her made me who I am today and I am grateful that I was able to take her advice and not shy away from it.
Thank you all for reading.
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