Bad anxiety when having to read out loud

[Kikerman33]

Hello everyone, I am a senior in high school and I have this one constant phobia that gives me an issue and I can't get over it, actually it's gotten worse. And it's just simply reading out loud when called upon in school, when we do popcorn reading I start to literally shake and get really nervous. And when I finally get called up I end up having really bad shortness of breath and I sound like a nervous wreck. I go home and practice at home reading out loud and I can do it perfectly. It's very frustrating. I'm naturally a quite person, but the weird thing is that I don't get nearly as nervous for presentations, I mean yeah is still get a little anxious but I can always control my self. The weird thing is that it is hit or miss with this anxiety. Sometimes I get super nervous and other times it's like there is no problem at all. If found that actually volunteering to read instead of getting called on helps a lot sometimes, but I'm not always confident enough in myself to do that. Does anyone else have this problem? Or any tips for me? Thanks!

[Exactice]

Hey Kikerman33. Fear not.... what you have described is what Millions of people go through. It is a classic sign of nervousness and also the defense mechanisms of your fight or flight syndrome.


Some personal thoughts.

1) You are nervous which any normal human being would be! The real way to get over this nervousness is time and practice.
2) Dealing with the symptoms are another issues. First we will discuss the mental side
2a) What are you mentally thinking about when you are called? Are you worried about making a mistake, are you worried that you would embarrass yourself? You need to refocus those thoughts on either the task at hand, or you need to focus on something positive, like you have done this a million times and nothing bad has ever come out of it.
2b) The physical symptoms, the shortness of breath, shaking is all panic/anxiety by products, you need to first shake out the adrenaline that is running through your body, shaking out when you are standing, secondly, BREATH nice Slow....long deep breaths... regulate your breathing so as not to get stuck the in the short breaths. A hypnotherapy that I do, says it best, "A deep breath is like a signal to your body to relax"
3) When you volunteer you are mentally prepared so it seems easier, in comparison to being called. If you want, you can do sort of an avoidance, but it may not help in the long run. If you volunteer more often you will get practice reading aloud, and most likely you would not be called again and be caught off guard.



Anyways, completely normal, just need a little practice and a little practice controlling the physical symptoms, Keep a positive out look and you should be just fine!

[Malone]

Hi Kikerman33, any improvements? I hope so and if so, I'd be happy to hear how you managed. This issue has been my main cause of anxiety for too many years.