OCTOBER 1st, PUBLIC SPEAKING

“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’d rather be in the casket than up there doing the eulogy”

-Jerry Seinfeld

There can be no argument that we live in a scary time.  Fear is a funny thing, we all experience it at one point or another.  Its something that connects us all.  Every culture has their fears, their superstitions, and their nightmares.  If somehow we could unite together as a species, perhaps we could set our fears aside.  This October I’ve decided to write about a different fear every day.  Why you ask?  Fear is the product of ignorance.  Ignorance is fought with knowledge.  If I can impart even one nugget of wisdom to another person, I have fought fear.

The first fear I’ll talk about is a very common one. Its not one I personally suffer from, but ask around, you know someone who does.  Public Speaking (Glossophobia – Greek for Tongue Dread).  Glossophobia is the bane of the social awkward and best-man alike.  Not to be confused with its cousin, stage fright, it can paralyze the speaker, causing a spiral that can be tough to recover from.  The speaker gets bogged down with “Ummms” and “ahhhs”.  There can be physical symptoms as well, such as rubbing one’s neck, or perspiring an inordinate amount.

It seems like a silly thing to be afraid of.  There’s no monster barreling down upon you, there’s no ticking bomb about to obliterate your loved ones.  Its just standing, and talking.  But why is it that this is such a common fear?  Well, the most popular explanation is that it has to do with the chemicals in our body.  Since most people see public speaking as a high stress situation, our body releases adrenaline.  This in turn activates our fight-or-flight response.  Faced with a fight-or-flight situation, we are given a remarkable amount of abilities.  Some people grow stronger, like a mother lifting a car of a child.  Our tolerance for pain increases.  We can run faster for a longer period of time then under normal conditions.  They are the kind of abilities that make for great stories, be it around the dinner table, or in your favorite comic book.

One of the things we do not do better with adrenaline pumping through our bodies however, is speak.  Talk to a cop after having to fire his weapon or an athlete after making a game winning play.  They have trouble annunciating.   They are usually looking around, unable to stay focused, trying to find the next threat until they know its calm.  The same is true for glossophobia.

THE ANSWER:  There are groups out there that specialize in easing people into public speaking.  There are techniques that some people use, such as find a person in the audience and talk to them, or picturing the audience naked.  There are also drugs that people can take to calm their nerves and counteract the stress they feel.  Then of course, there is always liquid courage (Be sure to read Rendar’s wonder Brew Reviews if you’re taking this path).