Self – confidence is a tricky, mercurial thing: as soon as I feel like I’ve got a handle on it, it slips though my fingers and I am plunged again into self doubt.
So many things feed or starve our confidence in ourselves, including systemic aspects of where we rank in the dominant culture, our aptitudes and abilities and how they are valued in the dominant culture, the faith and support we receive from those around us as we travel through life, and how we are wired – how our thinking responds to our circumstances and how we story any and all of these things.
The good news is that we can work it, we can develop our capacity to feel confident, we can strengthen our faith in ourselves, we can learn to believe in our ability to grow, learn, change and develop, so that even when we can’t do something, we think ‘…yet.’ We can learn to push through the fear of not knowing, sit with the discomfort of learning, and dust ourselves off after failing.
Speaking in public and telling stories requires and builds our confidence in an iterative cycle, one feeding the other, driven by a deep seated desire to express ourselves and use our voice. And if we can hang on to a tiny margin of faith over failure, we will inevitably improve, speak well and tell stories with ease and grace.
It is the spark of faith in ourselves as worthy of being heard and having something worth listening to, that we must fan. We need to notice and celebrate the moments, tiny and tall, of satisfaction, so that we can feed ourselves with our successes.
Having support and guidance along the way can make a huge difference. ‘Storied Speaking’ is a two day online workshop that jet propels you into the world of oral storytelling and messaging. It is being offering one last time for 2020:
Wednesdays 18 Nov and 2 Dec, 2020.
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