It’s my first year of uni and I have an English 318 class. It’s going great but part of the grade is participation and I’m way too terrified to speak because everyone is an upperclassman (I think this is the reason). Now, I know I shouldn’t be afraid because my mom was one of those upperclassmen amongst underclassmen when she was in college. I’ve tried to imagine everyone legit was just like her and that they gave less than two shits about what I said/did but the other day I had to present a minor project and I spoke so fast/so badly my professor had to ask me to repeat the entire thing 😭 help me please I don’t want to live in turmoil every time I’m in class. (Breathing exercises, clearing my head of stressors, etc. aren’t working either)
2 comments
First thing and biggest thing.. go slow. Do not rush through you’ll find yourself gasping for air at points because you are trying to rush. Don’t be afraid to take pauses every few sentences or so.
When you right your speach/notes use different colored highlighters to for every or every other sentence. This helps you find where you left off.
By subtly remembering “I just read blue line, I’m on green line now”.
Obviously practice what you are going to say.
Before it’s your time to talk ignore everything around you and do the 7-7-7 breathing technique…breathe in (slow) 7 second, hold 7 seconds, breath out (slow) 7 seconds.
With this try to control your breathing.. people often think in a panic you need more breathing. That’s not true you need a steady breathing pattern to keep composure. That’s where the going slow and pausing comes into play.
Calm and collected is perceived as confidence.
Get out there and kick some ass.
Drink a shot or two before the class