I hate having to stand up and
present to others. I don’t mind training on a one on one basis but when
my boss approached me last week and told me that I had to give a presentation on customer
service at the next department meeting, I had flash backs of grade school, junior high and high school. Now, I
don’t have any of those horror stories where I had a whole class laugh at
me or that I made a complete full out of myself. I really don’t know
where the fear came from, maybe somewhere in my subconscious there is a memory
that I have locked up and buried but all I know is that I would wish for the
flu or I just took the F in school if it meant that I had to present in front
of the class ALONE. Come to think of it I was too nervous to give a speech at my sisters wedding!!!
As the days approached to give
the presentation I managed to push it in the back of my head, I didn’t
want to deal with it. Well Monday came and I knew Wednesday was just around the
corner and I hadn’t even started prepping for the presentation. Monday
night came and I couldn’t even settle down, I have known my co-workers
for more than 4 years so you would think I would be comfortable enough to stand
up in front of them, but nope……..and what in the world am I going
to talk about that hasn’t already been said week after week? Tuesday
morning came….urgh……I scanned articles online and put
something together and gave a proof to my boss to review. I got the big 2
thumbs up…..that didn’t help the nerves……which carried
on to this morning and when I’m anxious I get the most uncontrollable
stomach ache so I made the conscious decision to not eat or drink until after
the meeting!! My boss who was aware of my stupid childish fear told me
everything was going to be ok and then threw in a big unexpected AND “by
the way the other department head wants you to present in their meeting as
well!” ………...OHHHH MYYYY GOD!!! Seriously????
yes….so seriously!!...............i had NO time to fake an illness
because the meeting started……under the table my leg were shaking and
I felt my nerves get the best of me. Then it was my turn……so I did
my best and gave my presentation, I knew I stumbled over a few things but as I
looked around the room , I saw my close co-workers and my boss sitting there
smiling on. The second presentation went well also……and I got
positive feed back afterwards!!!!
Has today cured my
fear……HECK NO!!! I hope I’m good for quite sometime!!
Posts
