Glossophobia, I've got it!

Peace and blessings from Above be yours! So wonderful of you to continue on this journey with me and if you’re a new comer, welcome. I pray that your week was even been more than you expected it to be. I pray that you felt blessed and was a blessing to others. I pray that whatever the circumstances of your week you remained thankful, even if you found yourself in the midst of lack. None of us want to lack anything, but I’ve learned that’s when I grow the most in my faith and wisdom. Thankfulness multiplies itself, just as misery loves company. If we’re thankful for a crumb soon, we find ourselves enjoying a full slice and look forward to the loaf.

Last week I wrote about the important question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Well this post is going in the other direction. I’m going to write about what I said I wouldn’t do when I grew up. Not what I didn’t want to do, but what I said I wouldn’t do. Now that’s pretty brazen for an adult to say and as a child I said it with great defiance.

One thing I said I wouldn’t do was type, LOL, LOL, LOL. How ridiculous to think of that now. If I had stuck to that I would not be communicating with you and so many others now. Something else I said as a child is that I would never do was be was a teacher. It looked difficult then as well as now. I also said that I would not drop out of high school, but did after my freshman year due to a myriad of circumstances. I can go on, but I also said I would not do public speaking.

You see I have mild to moderate Glossophobia. Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking or of speaking in general. The word glossophobia comes from the Greek glōssa, meaning tongue, and phobos, fear or dread. I’m not alone, over 70% of the population have it, with women having a slight edge over men. Just thinking about it makes my heart race! I get afraid of tripping over my words, stuttering and just being at a loss of what to say. Then it gets personal; suppose they don’t like me or understand what I’m trying to say. Uh, uh, in my mind that’s not for me. Moses of the Bible was like that, he ask GOD to send someone else because he felt slow of speech, so GOD sent Aaron (Moses brother) along with him to be his mouth piece and if you’ve read the Bible you know how that turned out.

So many of those things I said I wouldn’t do with defiance I’ve found myself doing, some of them willingly. Well I’ve realized that GOD has something for me to say and not just to family and friends in comfortable settings, but in unfamiliar territory with strangers. Geez! I’m sweating now just thinking about it. Not only do I have one, but I’ll be speaking on three occasions this month unless GOD decides differently. On two of these occasions I’ll be encouraging others and in doing so I’ll have to testify, expose my struggles. Talking about the struggles is no big deal, especially after publishing my book online, http://www.amazon.com/Never-A-Mile-From-Home-ebook/dp/B00K5CCAJW. It’s the act of standing in front of strangers talking about whatever.

My Mother once told me to never say never because you don’t know where life will take you or what situation you may find yourself in. Those where pearls of wisdom she gave to me and I’m passing them on to you. Don’t worry about your qualifications, because if GOD has called you to do something HE will qualify you.

Glossophobia