Glows & Grows: Public Speaking & Social Anxiety

I enjoyed the activities that I’ve involved myself in with the You and The World project. It actually changed my outlook on life a little and discovered that even small actions can make big changes. Many individuals have their own story about their success, downfall, etc., and through this project, I progressed in a way that also changed others as well. Even though the You and the World project has ended, I still want to delve into the subject of social anxiety and fear of public speaking.

While researching my topic, I made discoveries that I’ve never knew about. It really helped my knowledge and perspective about people who suffer from social anxiety. I knew some things that pertained about the disorder, but it was basically information that I had because of knowledge I had about myself. What I would’ve tried to do differently was try and learn more information. The information I’ve gathered mostly consisted of factual evidence and scientific reasons as to why people suffer from social anxiety and have fear of public speaking. My goal during the time period of which we were supposed to research was to find an online community in which people actually shared their experiences and had first hand experience. It was already kind of late, but I already found a website that contained posts from people that share their story and get help from others who also suffer from social anxiety after researching.

Conducting original research was pretty difficult, having people reply to your emails and comply to your schedule wasn’t easy at all. I sent out a lot of emails to people that had specialties in dealing with the human mind and those who suffer from social anxiety. None of them replied, so I resorted to interviewing some people that I was recommended. I also tried to go to a mental institution to request for an interview with someone face to face. It didn’t go pretty well, no one was available. Although it was pretty disappointing not being able to get at least one response, I think I did pretty well with working with what I have.

The Agent of Change part of my project was completed with Jhazzelle and TK. I think that I could’ve done a better job with the 3rd part of the project by having presentations. Mental illnesses aren’t taught in health classes in schools, and talking about it to a group of people should help them understand it more. Or even just have knowledge about the topic. I could’ve made a brochure and/or poster and passed it around. Overall, I think that I did a good job with spreading awareness about my topic.