How To Overcome The Fear Of Public Speaking

Many people suffer from fear of public speaking but overcoming it will be easy if you have patience, determination and self-confidence

The fear of public speaking, also called glossophobia, is one of the most common phobias. Standing before an audience and speaking while all eyes are on the speaker can paralyze you within seconds if you can’t control your nerves. But how to overcome that fear?

Speaking is a difficult art to master, but improving it is just a matter of practice. It is important to understand the symptoms and causes of fear of public speaking in order to work internally to overcome it.

What are the symptoms of fear of public speaking?

Each person reacts differently to the stress of public speaking. Therefore, it is necessary to be attentive to all the signs. Generally, fear manifests itself through the following symptoms:

• Sweating
• Trembling in the hands and voice
• Incrise of cardiac frecuency
• Shortness of breath
• Stomach upset
• Sickness
• Excessive speed when speaking
• Total lockdown when your mind goes blank

Some people compare nerves to a snake bite. When a person begins to feel their body, it becomes paralyzed, just as it happens with the bite due to the poison.

These symptoms are a wake-up call from the body when feeling under pressure or threatened. The survival instinct of the individual activates his defense mechanism and when he panics, he may feel the need to flee from the stressful situation.

What are your causes?

• Unsafety
• Any traumatic experience related to public speaking
• Fear of rejection
• Low self-esteem

If a person had a shameful experience while speaking in public, it is likely that this has marked them psychologically. This can cause you to feel repressed, to the point of panic when faced with an audience.

Being individuals of a social nature, people often seek the approval and sympathy of others to feel good. In this sense, the fear of making a fool of themselves is something that limits them when expressing their ideas and feelings. However, these fears can be overcome with a lot of patience and psychological work.

How to overcome it?

Overcoming the fear of public speaking is an individual job. Even if they receive help from their family and acquaintances to cope with their fears, it is the individual who has the power to change their situation.

Here are some things that can be done to overcome fear:

Get prepared

Knowing the subject in depth and handling it very well is essential for a speech to turn out as expected. No one knows the topic more than the speaker or presenter. Not even the public. Therefore, the better you master the subject, the more confident you will feel.

On the other hand, it is also important to know the audience to whom the speech is directed, to think like him and to prepare answers to possible questions. The more we get to know the audience, the easier it will be to talk and interact with them.

Practice

A good technique to overcome your fear of public speaking is to practice what you are going to say out loud several times. Also, with the help of a mirror, family or acquaintances, this technique could be very useful to improve public speaking.

Practice standard responses is recommended to leave less room for improvisation.

Breathe deeply

Doing breathing exercises will be of great help to maintain control of the body and mind when beginning an intervention in public. In this sense, meditation exercises can also be part of the daily routine to relieve anxiety.

Pay special attention to body language

Taking a confident, confident speaking posture will make a big difference when speaking in public. For example, relaxing your shoulders, moving around the stage or near the audience will give a greater sense of security to the speaker.

Interact with the public

Although it may be a bit difficult at first due to shyness, looking people in the eye and interacting with them will increase the speaker’s confidence.

• To begin, it is recommended to search your audience for the people who seem most interested in the topic and inspire confidence. If we focus our gaze on them, everything will be much better.

The fear of public speaking is not permanent, but something perfectly controllable. The mind has the power to increase or overcome fears, and the decision to be dominated by them or dominate them is in each person.

And you, what will you do the next time you stop to speak in public?