Hi everyone,
I hope you all had a restful and productive spring break.

I want to talk more about stress and the surprising ways it affects our health and performance.

One of the surprising ways stress affects our health and performance is through speech. Speaking is a way to present ourselves, show what we can offer, and create a positive image of ourselves. The inability to do so because of stress affects that, turning into anxiety, fear, and nervousness, commonly seen and expressed in public speaking and social or performance anxiety when talking to people.

I have struggled and still struggle with speaking, trying to avoid public speaking chances. There are many encounters, such as class presentations, meetings, and interviews, where people come across the anxiety stress has on speech; it is something we all go through and can manage.

Anxiety about speaking arises from different things.

In my class, one of our discussions was about the slip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, explaining two perspectives: the Freudian and Psycholinguistic perspectives. The psycholinguistic perspective talks about the cognitive juggle of languages causing the slips, and the Freudian perspective explains the unconscious anxieties and self-doubt felt, describing thoughts and emotions. The Freudian viewpoint of explaining slips of the tongue describes the effect of stress on speaking ability.

Imposter syndrome can affect how we feel about speaking. Thoughts and voices flood our minds about not being qualified or good enough to speak or contribute to the conversation, creating doubt- so you stay quiet, imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome holds perfectionism, which is wanting to do good but feeling like we can not, leading to judgment and overanalyzation, filling our minds and making us nervous.

Explicit Monitoring theories, mentioned in the TedTalk, explain the overanalyzation that occurs when interfering with the task; when we think others are closely observing and judging us right when we are about to speak, it will result in stress, causing poor performance.

Thinking about speaking in any situation can be intimidating, but preparation helps with the anxiety we feel.

Some tips I mentioned in my blog last month were breathing and mindfulness. These two techniques calm the distress and recenter the person to the present and themselves instead of what others may or may not be thinking, occupying the mind.

Some other tips are to practice beforehand in front of a mirror, family members, pets, or stuffed animals to help control your speaking presentation. Find or have a familiar face in your audience for comfort. Take pauses when talking to gather your thoughts, feel calm, and listen. Lastly, know that you are not alone.

Speaking is an easy task that can be hard, but it is something we can get through.