The Involver-Personal Narrative

Though I got to sit down, I knew the night was far from over. I could feel that the next

time would be worse. The nerves were already pretty bad. All I could think about was getting

back up there and looking like an idiot. Then, the assignment was better explained. The thought

of having to focus on not only the information I was giving, but also making eye contact sounded

horrific. I could barely think at all. In fact, even now I have no idea what I was supposed to get

up and talk about.

I walked to the front and took three cleansing breaths. Before I could utter more than two

sentences, a student said something that made me giggle. Unfortunately, I am a nervous giggler.

Once I start, it is extremely difficult for me to calm

down or stop. I began to panic, thinking I

would fail because of my giggles. None of my teachers have ever understood that they truly are

not on purpose. My eyes began to water as I giggled through my speech. This was supposed to

be forty seconds, not several minutes! Determined as I was to finish, I knew I had already

messed up. I struggled through the remaining students and ran to sit down.

During this speech, I learned to take things as they come. Sometimes people will say

something ridiculous, something inappropriate will happen, or simply unexpected. The mark of a

successful public speaker is one that can roll with the punches. Hopefully I can do better in the