'What if I choke during my 1st speech?'

Then you choke.

Some of the best speakers from my time during Toastmasters choked their 1st speech.

When you mess up, you realize the world doesn't end.

After making this realization, you feel a sense of relief for your next speech.

This is not a green light to not practice beforehand

But if you gave it your best effort to prepare & the nerves got the best of you, do not beat yourself up.

I guarantee that choking is not a big deal like you think it is.

'How do you know?'

Bc I am speaking from experience.
'So what was it like?'

Well, this was my 1st ever Toastmasters meeting.

I went to just sit on my ass & observe.

Tbh, I went because I was hungry & thought they were going to have toast.

But nah.

There were atleast 75 people there.

Many people that I knew from my school
After seeing all those familiar faces, I sat all the way in the back.

I was praying that I did not get called on stage.

I had massive speech anxiety then.

*the meeting began*

The table topics started (random people get called up & give an impromptu speech about a topic)
Not kidding.

I was the first person called.

The toastmaster from the event thought he was being slick by calling the people in the back.

I was straight up mortified.

Walking to the front of the stage felt like the longest walk of my life.

Felt like a nightmare tbh.
Well I finally made it to the front.

I picked out the random topic from the hat.

Everyone eagerly awaited to hear me speak.

'What was your topic?'

A maraca..

The fuck was I going to say about a maraca for 2 minutes?
Well I had to think of something.

The thoughts began racing in my head.

I faced an army of eyeballs.

My face began to get hot.

My stomach tightened.

I began trembling.

Heart began pumping on turbo speed.

And my throat started to get super dry.

Oh no.... I was choking.
I stood up on stage for a few minutes and could not say a word.

Eventually, the toastmaster told me to sit down in a very sympathetic voice.

'Were you embarassed?'

Ya, very.

I saw a few of friends that were scattered in the meeting giggling & making jokes.

Felt awful.
But that moment alone was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I turned that shame into fuel.

I used that fuel to analyze the worlds best speakers & learn from them.

Took a 6 month break to simply learn.

The epic choke job kept me motivated.

Needed to figure all this out
6 months later, all my friends forgot about the choke job.

But I didn't.

I signed up for 3 Toastmasters & went to every single meeting

Got in tons of practices with different audiences & different topics

Recorded myself, analyzed, fine tuned & went back to give more speeches
A few months went by, and I finally began to figure it all out.

My speech anxiety turned into excitement.

Eventually I built enough courage to run for a leadership position.

The position was for External Vice President.

This role would have me spread the Toastmaster message
'Did you get the position?'

Yes, I did.

That position allowed me to bring many people who suffered from speech anxiety to the Toastmasters world.

If I could figure it all out, then I sure as hell wanted other people to know they could figure it out as well

You just need heart
But the moral of the story is that my journey for public speaking was born from a choke job.

Just like many other speakers.

Never be too hard on yourself for messing up.

Be hard on yourself for quitting.

That simply will not do.

You just need to show up & show out.
With time you will blossom into the speaker of your dreams

But it all begins with taking the stage

Just 3-6 speeches is all it takes to tackle the worlds #1 fear

You got this

Don't tell yourself otherwise

For more background into my tweets, sign up @ https://t.co/JjtGWxvwz4

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॥ॐ॥
अस्य श्री गायत्री ध्यान श्लोक:
(gAyatri dhyAna shlOka)
• This shloka to meditate personified form of वेदमाता गायत्री was given by Bhagwaan Brahma to Sage yAgnavalkya (याज्ञवल्क्य).

• 14th shloka of गायत्री कवचम् which is taken from वशिष्ठ संहिता, goes as follows..


• मुक्ता-विद्रुम-हेम-नील धवलच्छायैर्मुखस्त्रीक्षणै:।
muktA vidruma hEma nIla dhavalachhAyaiH mukhaistrlkShaNaiH.

• युक्तामिन्दुकला-निबद्धमुकुटां तत्वार्थवर्णात्मिकाम्॥
yuktAmindukalA nibaddha makutAm tatvArtha varNAtmikam.

• गायत्रीं वरदाभयाङ्कुश कशां शुभ्रं कपालं गदाम्।
gAyatrIm vardAbhayANkusha kashAm shubhram kapAlam gadAm.

• शंखं चक्रमथारविन्दयुगलं हस्तैर्वहन्ती भजै॥
shankham chakramathArvinda yugalam hastairvahantIm bhajE.

This shloka describes the form of वेदमाता गायत्री.

• It says, "She has five faces which shine with the colours of a Pearl 'मुक्ता', Coral 'विद्रुम', Gold 'हेम्', Sapphire 'नील्', & a Diamond 'धवलम्'.

• These five faces are symbolic of the five primordial elements called पञ्चमहाभूत:' which makes up the entire existence.

• These are the elements of SPACE, FIRE, WIND, EARTH & WATER.

• All these five faces shine with three eyes 'त्रिक्षणै:'.

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