Dozib
08-28-2007, 07:00 PM
I am on my school's Academic Team and am a Junior in High School. Our teacher sometimes asks us to do Oral Presentations, and this is really where my fears my have started. There are a total of 8 other members on my Team (not including my insane teacher...You would have to meet him to understand...He would make anyone nervous.)
When I was younger, even up to the 9th grade, I was a fast reader. We read My Antonia in our 9th grade English class 2 years ago and I would sometimes be called on to read. The people in my class were dumb (yet popular) and didn't really care about English. I would be so annoyed with their reading that I could read up to 5 pages before passing it on to another person. In the 10th grade we had to do a simple 2-3 minute presentation on an author that we researched. I stood up (volunteered first) and my body went crazy. My heart was pumping into my throat, I was shaking I'm sure and the major thing was my voice didn't want to breathe. I would take one breath and try to recite the entire presentation.
This year I am a lot more experienced in my Academic Team, but am sometimes afraid to even show it during a match. I am afraid to be wrong; Afraid to be laughed at.
Some classes in school I can freely talk in. I have revolved my entire class schedule around my Social Phobia this year. I take Chemistry first and I wont even answer homework problems when the teacher simply asks the room as a whole. My second class is Geometry, where i know no one and rarely talk. My English class, for instance, today we were going over a story we had read and the teacher called on me to answer a question. I had to say ONE SIMPLE SENTENCE and my throat was exploding with fear. I don't really know why. I like and talk to most of the people in the room, but if theres 1-3 people whom I'm afraid might make a joke or something, I'm fearful.
I must say though the Academic Team presentations scare me the most. I'm afraid of looking stupid in front of my 8 team members.
I'm sorry this took to long to get to, but I just wanted to give a background of what I feel like.
So, does anyone know a way to be calm and sensible (when i know i can be, since i used to be fine) in order to handle Social Phobia, without taking Psychology or Medication or anything crazy like that? Just a solution that I can work on everyday? I feel like it's getting worse and soon, when I am starting College, I'm afraid it might really begin to effect me.
If you took the time to read, thanks so much.
When I was younger, even up to the 9th grade, I was a fast reader. We read My Antonia in our 9th grade English class 2 years ago and I would sometimes be called on to read. The people in my class were dumb (yet popular) and didn't really care about English. I would be so annoyed with their reading that I could read up to 5 pages before passing it on to another person. In the 10th grade we had to do a simple 2-3 minute presentation on an author that we researched. I stood up (volunteered first) and my body went crazy. My heart was pumping into my throat, I was shaking I'm sure and the major thing was my voice didn't want to breathe. I would take one breath and try to recite the entire presentation.
This year I am a lot more experienced in my Academic Team, but am sometimes afraid to even show it during a match. I am afraid to be wrong; Afraid to be laughed at.
Some classes in school I can freely talk in. I have revolved my entire class schedule around my Social Phobia this year. I take Chemistry first and I wont even answer homework problems when the teacher simply asks the room as a whole. My second class is Geometry, where i know no one and rarely talk. My English class, for instance, today we were going over a story we had read and the teacher called on me to answer a question. I had to say ONE SIMPLE SENTENCE and my throat was exploding with fear. I don't really know why. I like and talk to most of the people in the room, but if theres 1-3 people whom I'm afraid might make a joke or something, I'm fearful.
I must say though the Academic Team presentations scare me the most. I'm afraid of looking stupid in front of my 8 team members.
I'm sorry this took to long to get to, but I just wanted to give a background of what I feel like.
So, does anyone know a way to be calm and sensible (when i know i can be, since i used to be fine) in order to handle Social Phobia, without taking Psychology or Medication or anything crazy like that? Just a solution that I can work on everyday? I feel like it's getting worse and soon, when I am starting College, I'm afraid it might really begin to effect me.
If you took the time to read, thanks so much.