Last Thursday I had the opportunity to speak at Hastings Young Life last week, and as usual before speaking in front of a group of people, I was nervous. I've been pondering "the fear of public speaking" the last several days. No matter how many times I speak in front of a group of people (and it's been a good number of times since I'm old), I get nervous. I'm not the greatest speaker, nor the worst. I'm OK I think. I'm in sales for Pete's sake, so I shouldn't get that nervous, really.
So why?
I have an idea why -- it's ego. That's it. It's the fear of making a fool of myself. Forgetting what I am going to say in front of everyone is my main fear, which would be embarrassing. This fear of forgetting what I am going to say, which usually begins the day that I find out that I'm going to speak in public, is down payment for getting in front of people to talk to them. (This could easily be a note about how nonsensical it is to worry, but I'm going to stick with the topic of fear of public speaking).
Forgetting what I'm going to say is the surface level thought that drives this fear, but I believe the deep subconscious concern is my fear of failure. This fear of failure is probably what makes "public speaking" a greater fear of most people than even death!!! (This is no exaggeration - just Google it) Our commitment to satisfying our ego is incredible, to say the least.
When we worry about our ego we are not thinking about others - which should be the first thing we're thinking about when speaking in front of a group! Our communication to our audience should be our first consideration - not "what will they think about me if..."
The next time I have to get in front of a large group of people to speak, I'm going to remind myself that any fear or nervousness is about my ego. To be a great communicator to a group of people should be achieved by following the teaching of Jesus to put others before yourself and be willing to sacrifice ourselves - or at least our ego.
