Why talking in front of people feels so scary to some and not to others

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Some people get really freaked out about talking in front of groups of people, others too don’t feel anything at all. It’s not all coming from their individual personalities though.

Way back in history, when a group of people was staring at you, you could usually expect to be attacked or eaten. Our brains still remember this instinctively to a certain extent, perhaps evolution passed down, and your body may react as if you are in danger when you are speaking in front of the audience today. You might experience increased heart rate, sweaty palms, a dry mouth, it can get as bad as some kids pissing on themselves because of the fear.

In most cases, families that have a child or family member living with this fear, had a completely different upbringing than someone who does not experience such fears. Some kids were encouraged to speak at the dinner table and were allowed to express themselves. Other kids see the audience as just regular people, and did not interpret them as predators looking for mistakes to pounce upon. Some children have calmer nervous systems, although I believe that most of this can be attributed to how they have been taught to live.

Although it may seem that confidence is just something that you are born with, you can learn how to be more confident in front of large groups. With enough experience, you can train yourself to remove the fear that you feel when you are speaking in front of thousands of people.

Just because you can experience growth does not guarantee that you will ever look forward to speaking in front of an audience or that you will feel comfortable doing it. The anxiety before jumping on stage to speak may decrease after you have spoken to at least a hundred audiences, but it does likely not completely go away.

All of that said, it’s the amount of power that fear has over you that will change. Some people have said it never goes away, you just learn how to control it when it comes.

Speaking of control over it, this is a great guide that you can follow, if you're to go up stage or talk to a lot of people, and it can even help with randomly talking to strangers.

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