The Fear of Public Speaking

In America the number one fear for everyone is public speaking. The following top fear is drowning and dying. It takes a lot of courage for a person to get up in front of others and have to talk while it’s completely silent. This fear may not effect some people, but the majority of people get anxiety and stress from public speaking. The fear of public speaking has heightened over the years especially with kids 14-18.

The fear of public speaking can start taking place in high school. Because in high school, kids are expected to be able to get up in front of their peers and be able to present, speak, and sometimes teach. When public speaking anywhere, it’s all eyes on you and everyone is paying attention to you and that’s where the anxiety and stress can come from. Most people, especially at school, don’t want that extra attention on them and that gives them the fear of getting up and talking in front of a group. Another reason could be the fear of failure. In high school people can be very judgmental and rude when it comes to someone messing up or saying the wrong thing, and when you’re public speaking there’s so many opportunities for one to do so.

Public speaking is for sure one of my biggest fears and something that causes me a lot of stress. I always get very nervous and my stomach will feel like it’s turning when a presentation is announced in class. It’s not because I have to do the work, it’s because I’m not the type of person that wants all the extra attention on me. For example, in english class this week I had to go up on the stage in the auditorium and tell a five minute story about fear, and I about cried when I found out of this assignment. I thought to myself all week that there was no way I could ever do that, but there was no other choice. When I walked up that stage I couldn’t even feel my legs and my voice was so shaky. After I started talking it was all okay and I wasn’t nervous anymore.

So in reality the fear of public speaking isn’t the talking aspect, it’s the building of the courage to get up in front of an amount of people. Once the speaking is done most people feel this relief and wonder why they were so nervous, but the fear in the form of anticipation, will always be there.