When I overcame my phobia and rose above the fear..

Fear is the biggest enemy of a human being.
Because of it people lose their calmness, happiness and a peaceful sleep.

It makes you sweat, go insane and sometimes even take away your life.
A person who shows courage and takes risks to overcome it tastes victory.

Everyone has a fear and when it becomes large it converts to phobia.
Some common phobias are -:
Acrophobia – fear of heights.
Nyctophobia – fear of darkness.
Xenophobia – fear of strangers.
Herpetophobia – fear of reptiles.
Arachnophobia – fear of spiders.
Phasmophobia – fear of ghosts.
Atychiphobia – fear of failure
Monophobia – fear of being alone or isolated.
Necrophobia – fear of death.

And here comes the phobias which caught me, Glossophobia – fear of speaking in public and Anthropophobia – fear of company of people.

From childhood itself I was a shy person. I was hesitant in speaking to people especially the
opposite sex. Tough a bright student in school I never helped a girl when she came up with her doubts.
Consequences of the same were really bad for me. I was called stubborn, uncooperative and a rude person. People especially girls used to hate me and would look for an opportunity to defame me.

If a person has knowledge but he is not able to articulate it properly than it’s of no use.
When you are given the stage you should be able to address the people but I couldn't.
Stage fear is common but if you want to succeed in the long run it had to be overcome.

The two phobias were drastically affecting my life.
I was losing friends and missing out on opportunities. Severe depression and isolation took hold of me.
Finding solace nowhere I started spending hours browsing internet for solutions though I used to watch videos more.

One fine day I came across this site called Toastmasters.
On further reading about it I came to know that it was one of the best clubs in the world for public speaking.  There was a session scheduled in my city on Saturday.
I decided to give it a try.
Loved the way people spoke there and also the interaction. Impressed by the overall ambience I decided to join the local toastmasters club.

Starting was like hell.
If a girl asked a question to me I used to become so uncomfortable and hesitant that I had to leave the session in the middle. 

My first speech was really horrible where I couldn't give my introduction also properly.

People used to mock at me but there were also few generous and humble souls who used to treat me like their friends and encourage me.

Their efforts along with my determination started to show positive results.
Now I could atleast speak to an opposite sex by looking into her eyes.
My confidence which was a like a dead soul, now started to rise like a phoenix from ashes.
At the end of 3 months I could speak fluently on stage.

There were house elections in my school.
Every time I was chosen as a candidate for the house captain but I used to back out because of my phobias. This time was different.
It was the moment to prove myself and face my fear.
Risk involved was huge as trust and efforts of lot of people were on stack and more than anything my own self respect. One moment of fear could make me go blank. 

Embarrassment and a piece of mockery for next 3 years was really unbearable so I decided to give it a second thought.

I called Mr Iyer, my godfather at toastmasters. He just told me two things.
1. To stay calm and face the world with full confidence.
2. The people I was addressing had gathered to hear me so I should fulfill my duty.

Sound of claps filled the atmosphere as I said those final two words “Thank You”.
There was a standing ovation. Tears rolled down my cheeks.
It was a speech I could have never imagined to give even in my dreams.
Finally I had overcome my fears and phobias.
I was reborn, ready to live my life to the fullest.

This post is written as part of Rise above fear contest on Indiblogger. 

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