Did you feel nervous before/while giving talks?

by likeabird 18 Replies latest jw friends

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  Stand for Pure Worship

  Before giving a talk, always nervous. You'd never know it unless I told you. People are always surprised when I tell them that I'm nervous before going up there. I might be joking with a brother or sister in the back or making faces at/or playing peek-a-boo with a curious toddler sitting in the back row. Something about seeing babies or kids smile and laugh at your antics does wonders for anxiety. That said, what people think is just me being me, is really me doing little things to take my mind off of the thought that I have to go on that platform in a few minutes or seconds. Weird thing is, when I'm up there, I'm fine, almost like I'm at home or something. When you look out at the audience, whether it's at your home congregation, or while doing an away talk, at the halfway point to scan and recognize that they're all waiting for what you'll say next is a little bit empowering. I can see why some people get off on the attention. Have to say though, the anxiety before going up there, or the irritation of seeing your name on the schedule for something, sometimes multiple things every week, overshadows any attention loving leanings one might have. At least for me anyway. I get sick of going up there and travelling to Timbuktu once or twice a month. It gets old after a while.

  Wanted to mention, I get nervous before commenting too. When I'm commenting, I'm fine, but before the microphone gets to me, I'm nervous. It takes a little bit of nerve for me to raise my hand, even when it's something that I feel really strong about. Then when the brother conducting notices me and says my name, the anxiety increases. The mic man approaching me, getting closer, makes me all the more nervous and anxious. Once I start speaking though, I'm fine. After I get done speaking, I feel relief.
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  THE GLADIATOR

  Nah! I was raise in the Theocratic Ministry School and nerves were not allowed. Besides Jehovah's spirit guided me as I was borne along by angels.

  The only thing that ever makes me nervous, is my wife going shopping.
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  innerpeace

  Same here SFPW, I use to get sooo nervous before commenting, hands would get all sweaty and everything. Probably why I didnt do it much
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  FirstLastName

  I was paralyzed by fear for my talks. I was an elders daughter so I was giving talks at a really young age and it NEVER got better. Being "graded" never helped. Knowing that I was being judged by some elder, was a janitor in real life, not an English professor (no offense to janitors). When I realised as an adult, that I could take my self OFF the KMS, it was like a revelation!!!

  I suffered severe anxiety while I was a witness. Not anymore.
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  Robert7

  I always did, for a 5 minute part! What killed me was that I'm a professional in a sales environment. I can speak for in front of large groups, executives, etc, with no nerves, and with no need to overly prepare or even script the whole presentation. Everything just came natural and I do well.

  So I would always wonder, why can I deliver a professional 1/2 hour long presentation with minimal preparation and usually no notes, but have to basically script the 5 minute parts at the hall?

  I personally think this was all part of dissonance. I didn't whole heartedly believe everything at the hall and therefore didn't immerse myself in it. At the hall, no talks came naturally.
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  DATA-DOG

  I used to get nervous. I was very concerned about speaking the truth and helping Christ's sheep. Then I learned TTATT, told the Elders that the WT contains errors and that I do not serve any man, and that my trust in any humans, including the Elders and the GB is conditional. I no longer have any assignments except the occasional Bible Reading, so I don't have to be nervous for a week before I give a part at the meeting. I have to say, it's great! I recommend speaking TTATT to everyone!

  DD
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  straightshooter

  When I was in front of the cong I was always nervous. The only exception was the Bible reading. I totally hated demonstrations in front of the cong.
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  Jim_TX

  Maybe at first... when I was a young kiddo, but later on, when I was a teenager, no.

  In fact, when handed an assignmend, I usually left off preparing for it until the last minute. Maybe not the brightest thing to do, but it seemed to work.

  I think those were called 'Thursday Night Miracles'.

  I am still able to speak in front of audiences of people, I did so this last September for a Renewable Energy Roundup, when I shared my experiences using solar and LEDs. Of course... I spent waaaay more time preparing for this than I did for my JW speeches.
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  likeabird

  Thank you everyone for your comments.

  Zeb I don't remember the eight P's, but I know they used to give us acronyms that spelt things, quite on a 'similar' line.

  Lois Wow, that is quite some stress levels. I know the sister I mentioned had to take anti depressants for a time to calm her down, but then again, the slightest thing would send her flapping.

  Searcher I was always told that the TMS is the only school you never graduate from. Kind of true. However, from experience, if you cancel your talks at the last minute, or just don't show up to do them, the school overseer will quickly drop you from the list. He doesn't like to be left hanging more than a few times.

  Bungi I'm glad you got over your shyness. Public speaking never posed a problem for me. Kind of gave me something to do. However, the longer I stayed in the shyer or more introverted I became. At the end I would have my bag packed and ready to go before the meeting was finished and after saying hello to one or two people, for appearances sake, I was straight out the door and gone.

  Joyfulfader I got told that too. That's why I made sure I prayed each time, however mechanical it seemed looking back. Would never let on I wasn't nervous though. Safer that way!

  WMF That was a good lesson to learn. I'd prepare my talks weeks before, doing as much research as I could to bring something new to what we had already heard countless times. Unfortunately it was only on my very last talk that I realised what you did. I had already woken up but still had this talk to do, so I went in the bedroom, looked at the material and came out literally five minutes later with the talk fully written out. Can't remember how well it went down as I doubtless left the meeting as soon as it ended.

  Rip You're lucky you didn't do the TMS for long. I had three decades of it. Don't miss it a bit!

  A.proclaimer Poor guy. That must have been embarassing for him. A bit off topic but it reminded me of a study who used to come to all the meetings and would comment. Let's just say he had a very running nose and would never wipe it...!

  WTWizard I also made a point of timing my talks so they would be spot on. Used to hate when talks would go over, so did the same as you. On thinking about it, it's quite true that there was no improvement. Also true that it was a total waste of time.

  SFPW Your comment reminded me of how nervous I would actually get for commenting. I absolutely hated raising my hand. I had to force myself to do it and if they missed my hand more than twice I could relax for the rest of the meeting knowing I had at least tried.

  Gladiator Very funny! At least you know what things are worth worrying about!

  innerpeace See my reply to SFPW. I only made the effort because I was a pioneer and as such you had to set the example (and keep the elders off my back). Else I wouldn't have bothered making much of an effort.

  FirstLastName I'm glad you don't suffer from anxiety anymore. That must have been awful.

  Robert7 Interesting question. I was actually never a big fan of notes and would keep them as minimalist as possible. That doesn't mean I never wrote out my talks. I did, I just never took that version with me up on the stage. In fact, most of the time, I would never even look at the notes as they would distract me. Same is true today.

  Data-dog Glad that worked for you. I never told anyone. That way for the few talks I still had to give I would try to slip things in to get people thinking.

  straightshooter I hated demos too. Really hated them. Never saw the point of them as all you had to do was read what was written on the OKM, and I did. It took longer to get to the platform than it took to do the demo.

  Jim_TX Love the 'Thursday Night Miracles'!