A CHALLENGE I HAVE OVERCOME IN MY LIFE.

With a standing ovation from the whole school and a look on my father’s face that seemed to say ‘I am proud of you’, I realized I had just taken a big step to overcome my public speaking demons. I suffered from stage fright anytime I stood in front of people to speak, and if these demons that cause this anxiety are the same ones in hell, then I am surely booking my flight to heaven as soon as possible.

Since my childhood, I had always been the kid all parents wished they had; I was intelligent, smart, thoughtful and too wise for my age. What those parents did not know was that I lacked confidence in when speaking. That was my Achilles heel, if I was Superman, then public speaking was my Kryptonite; the Delilah to my Samson, the ‘Bad Boy Pistons’ to my Michael Jordan. My fear did not allow me to be a great. I remember urinating on myself in first grade when my teacher asked me to read in front of the class and I also recall fainting in fifth grade under similar circumstances. I was little and young so I got away with such humiliating stuff and I thought it would just go away when I grew up. Like a bad habit, my anxiety did not go away as I entered my teens and that’s when I realized it was here to stay. I started to look for innovative ways to avoid speaking or singing in public. Like Houdini in chains, I would try to escape from class anytime I had to do anything that involved standing in front of my fellow students.

I was at the top of my ‘game’ when I reached highschool. I wrote the most beautiful essays and when it was time to read it to the whole class, I always pretended to have lost my voice. The excuse lasted for a while but my teacher finally read between the lines, and he warned me of my actions. I was at my wit’s end wit...

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...d my lips to peak my first words, I could feel my bladder get full. I told myself “Not again, not this time”, and as if to show me who is boss, my sphincter muscles relaxed enough to allow drops of urine into my pants. I held on and delivered a speech Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama would be proud of.

I feel sometimes that I wasted half of my teenage life fearing something I could have conquered a long time ago. Fear only exists in our minds and by having a positive mind set, one can easily overcome. Although I vomited stage right after I finished my speech, I knew I had fought away my demons and the standing ovation I got from my father and everyone else only made me stronger. What was once my weakness had finally become my strength. The same way Michael Jordan overcame the ‘Bad Boy Pistons’ to succeed, I have overcome my public speaking fears and I am now a winner.