What fears have you overcome and how? – Well timed question for me this morning from the daily writing prompt.

Yesterday I had to give a speech in front of people. That has always been a big fear. I’ve had to do this periodically in life and its been terrifying.

Working on the speech is fun. I love writing them most of the time. But public speaking isn’t in my wheelhouse.

The speech yesterday was for my best friends’ 45 wedding anniversary. And that was about as easy as I’ve had and stressful as I’ve had. Easy in the sense it was in front of a lot of known people and a few new ones. Stressful in the sense that I wanted it to be perfect for a couple I love.

I’m not a person that can memorize a speech or ad lib one in front of large groups. I read.

I guess I’ve overcome it by just doing it. Early on in my career I was asked to speak at some technical conferences and trade groups. Jeez, I was nervous. I was prepared, I knew what I was talking about and should have been very confident. But my presentation/delivery, needed a lot of work.

Of course I’ve gain confidence over time and repetition. This time my better half was giving my lots of encouragement and that made me feel more relaxed going into it.

Like anything you want to overcome you just have to get to work at it. Force yourself to leave your comfort zone. There will always be people better at it. I try to overcome the nervousness I might have with the words I speak which are hopefully meaningful, insightful, loving, funny, educational or just historical memories.

I should have grabbed a shot of the wedding albums he had laid out of me giving the toast to him as his best man 45 years ago.

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