You all know, more or less, about the Little Miss Shy book. The character, like in the other books of the series, emphasizes on a one characteristic. Weel, believe it or not, but I went straight from Little Miss Shy to Miss Speaker. If today I teach classes and speak at conferences in front of several hundred people, I used to be this young girl who wouldn't even enter a bakery she had never been to (and I was over 20 at that time).
Blushing at the blackboard
Back in the 90s, while at was in high school, the blackboard was my worse enemy: as soon as the teachers would ask for a volunteer - or designate one - I would suddenly shrink to as small as I could in order not to be spotted. Getting up and answering questions in front of the class would paralyze me and I would end up red as a plump cherry being squashed on the pavement. A hot rush of blood to my face and here I was: panting and freaking out.
The exercise was a pain and no teacher would ever feel comprehensive: I was to deal with it and "you"ll see, someday, you'll be comfortable with the situation". Of course! Easy when you're the one in charge, the other students respect you and you are one of those people who "deal with it"! For me, things were different and my whole childhood was marked by the uneasiness of talking in front of other people.
Leaving your comfort zone
After high school, I decided to study in a different field from all my friends and was launched in the "real world" on my own. You have to know that from kindergarten to high school, I stayed in the same school, hence meeting few new friends and, most of all, keeping up with the ones I already knew. That was a real comfort zone: the same place, the same people, the same routine...
Of course, it was a shock to me: if people didn't talk to me, I would for sure not go to talk to them. At a party, I would stick to my friends like a gum on your sole, imagine in a class full of strangers or in an office. Studies seemed like a horror show to me, especially when I started university: 400 students in an amphitheater... How would you expect one to meet anyone and make friends? Eventually, I did. Sheer luck!
What about the real world?
Of course, you would expect to enter the professional world, the "real" world at once. I did, during my studies in college, working part-time. The beginnings were hard: I was to answer the phone. Whaaaat??? You mean talking to people I've never met?!? Indeed. Go for it, girl. Actually, it wasn't such a catastrophe as I only had to answer. But someone once had this great idea: what if I prospected new customers..? OMG! That was tough. But I did it. Not very efficiently, though.
Now, how would you expect this shy girl to become a speaker, teach classes to students and train professional..? It all happened step by step. The first one cam up as an opportunity: a friend of mine told me a school was looking for a lecturer. Well, what can a bunch of kids on their 20s do to a 30-something with my experience? The truth is: I was terrified, but I stood up and talked. The more classes I lead, the better I became.
Then one day someone asked me to speak at a conference. Wow! That was different. And then... I asked myself: if those people attend a conference, if they take the time to get there and sit quietly in a room, probably they are expecting something that I can give them and they don't master. The truth is: I'm good at what I do; very good! And those people, they're not. It's just not their business, at least not their specialty, while it's mine. What could they do to me? Ask questions? Well, I only had to answer, as clearly as I could, to provide them with the right piece of information, the one that would help them understand the global idea - or the detail that made the difference.
Today, I'm a professor, I teach classes for students from bachelor to master. I talk in front of crowds in conferences, on tradeshows and events, I train companies sharing my knowledge with them. While I lacked confidence when I was a kid, never sure what to say and scared as hell about the reactions of my classmates, now I'm the one who teaches the class, I'm the one with the ideas and, most of all, I've got the power: the power to share and draw the attention and make myself heard. If you're shy and think you'll never make it, believe me: if I did, you can, everyone can.