A week or so ago, I'd attended Stories Worth Sharing Trivandrum Edition 2.0 and this time I'd attended as a speaker. To say I was nervous was an understatement as public speaking and me did not go hand in hand. A childhood disposistion to stutter, for which I underwent speech therapy, would still raise it's head when confronted in nervous scenarios and this kind of a situation was numero uno.
Of course, listening to all the speakers speak I was actually thinking to myself 'what have you gotten yourself into?'. For most of the speakers had quite serious topics to speak on and some even spoke on the passing of a near friend who had played a part in their life. And here I was preparing to talk on a humorous topic of 'Where are you from?'
Funnily enough, once I did get to the mike I was able to speak well enough (or so I thought) while having to restrain myself from speaking quite fast as I could feel the tempo of the talk. Since I had intended to have quite bit of humour interspersed in my talk it was a relief to hear the audience react positively to it. And even receive a few 'nice one man!' and 'you already speak quite well. If this isn't your forte, I wonder how you will do when you believe it is your forte' notes. Now that was a confidence booster. The ago old adage does prove true. Confront your demons head on and you may just be surprised as to how they aren't as scary as you percieve them to be.
Especially liberating was listening to other speakers especially the youngest of the lot who was an 18 yr old girl talk about confronting her anxiety issues and an octagenarian Novma Mony and her sister talk about their life experiences. Other tales of moving ahead in life when faced with personal loss, south indian food desires, et al.
What I can say for now is that I am definitely looking forward to Stories Worth Sharing Trivandrum Edition 3.0 and hoping to speak again.
Of course, listening to all the speakers speak I was actually thinking to myself 'what have you gotten yourself into?'. For most of the speakers had quite serious topics to speak on and some even spoke on the passing of a near friend who had played a part in their life. And here I was preparing to talk on a humorous topic of 'Where are you from?'
Funnily enough, once I did get to the mike I was able to speak well enough (or so I thought) while having to restrain myself from speaking quite fast as I could feel the tempo of the talk. Since I had intended to have quite bit of humour interspersed in my talk it was a relief to hear the audience react positively to it. And even receive a few 'nice one man!' and 'you already speak quite well. If this isn't your forte, I wonder how you will do when you believe it is your forte' notes. Now that was a confidence booster. The ago old adage does prove true. Confront your demons head on and you may just be surprised as to how they aren't as scary as you percieve them to be.
Especially liberating was listening to other speakers especially the youngest of the lot who was an 18 yr old girl talk about confronting her anxiety issues and an octagenarian Novma Mony and her sister talk about their life experiences. Other tales of moving ahead in life when faced with personal loss, south indian food desires, et al.
What I can say for now is that I am definitely looking forward to Stories Worth Sharing Trivandrum Edition 3.0 and hoping to speak again.
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