How are you at speeches?
Do you like to give speeches?
I took a speech class in high school, even though I had been performing in plays and programs my whole life. I loved performing and did it every chance I got. I have a good memory which makes me perfect for it. The sick kind like - "On the Monday before Christmas in 1987 I was wearing a purple dress with blue flowers and we had chicken noodle soup for dinner." I remember conversations in detail. I remember dates and incidents. I almost do not need to take notes. I compartmentalize everything that I take in and then sort and re-sort the information in the following minutes, hours, and days. Emotions and feelings are attached to each item and then it is stored appropriately. The higher the level of attached emotion, the more often the item will be re-pulled throughout the day and days following. And this is the lengthy process that cements these events. (And explains why I'm exhausted because my brain NEVER turns off.) This is why I remember throwing up all over my Chemistry test in the 11th grade. The 11th grade. Not the 1st grade which is entirely acceptable. It's why I can vividly see myself aged 13, with braided hair, wearing a pink dress, throwing a cup of water in Matt's face when he had the audacity to publicly make fun of me for choosing not "to go" with him. (I secretly wanted to do just that, whatever it meant, but I had trust issues and he proceeded to prove me right and the betrayal stung. Deeply.)
I expected to excel in speech class, but I was nervous. I felt awkward. I felt uncertain. The reason? It was not fear of attention. It was fear of their opinions. In plays the words are not your own so it matters not. In speeches, the words are your own. Or should be. (It's a shame that famous people have writers. If you are speaking before an audience it should always be authentic.) My grade was fine but I never did get comfortable.
Somewhere along the way....
....that changed.
My ability to convey my heart has become so easy. I do all my own work, just so you know. I do not fear speaking in front of others, because I see their eyes, I see their heart, and what follows is a conversation. Even if it's a group of ten, forty or two hundred.
Not everyone is cut out for speech making. Not everyone gets in the spotlight. But it is the quiet conversations that we should all be having. The "Will you 'go with' me?" ones... The "You mean something to me" ones... The "Thanks for being my friend" ones.." And most importantly, when it comes down to it, the "Goodbye" ones....
We all deserve the chance to speak our heart. We all deserve to look into the eyes of an audience of one, or twenty, to share and inspire, and when necessary, let go, which is the hardest of all the things.
Just be sure to do your own work. Be authentic. Or you might get a face full of water.
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