Year End Performances
May 31 2009

I’ve heard that the fear of public speaking is one of the top fears in the world.  According to Speech Topics Help, Advice & Ideas the top fears are:

1. Fear of public speaking (Glossophobia)
2. Fear of death (Necrophobia)
3. Fear of spiders (Arachnophobia)
4. Fear of darkness (Achluophobia, Scotophobia or Myctophobia)
5. Fear of heights (Acrophobia)
6. Fear of people or social situations (Sociophobia)
7. Fear of flying (Aerophobia)
8. Fear of open spaces(Agoraphobia)
9. Fear of thunder and lightning(Brontophobia)
10. Fear of confined spaces(Claustrophobia)

So it’s amazing to me how little kids pull of their year end school performances.  I was so proud of my two kids this weekend.  They had their year end performances this past Saturday.  They go to the same international school so they both got up in front of a crowd of tons of parents and kids at the University of Texas at Austin JJ Pickle Center and sang songs, acted out skits, and read poems in French, Spanish, and English!

Both of our kids in the early days seemed to always have a meltdown when they performed.  Our son went to Montessori school and invariably he would freak out, not say a word, or get pissed off.  Of course it was quite embarrassing for us parents plus we felt bad for him.  Our daughter did the same thing.  She would be totally fine before the performance but then all of a sudden when she saw the crowd of people she would shut down and get shy and embarrassed.  She would then cry afterward because she felt she had let us down.  Of course we would hug them and tell them they did a great job and it’s OK to get nervous sometimes.

But this time was different.  They both preformed and sang with gusto!  I was so proud of them.

It’s funny how these performances bring back the memories of when I performed as a kid.  I’ve probably blocked out some occasions, but I do remember totally blanking on what came next in one of my piano recitals.  I think I even forgot words during a voice recital.  I felt horrible and completely embarrassed for days.  I can’t remember what my mother said to me but I probably didn’t hear anything over my internal dialogue of ‘you are such a loser.’  But for some insane reason, I kept on trying different things.  I guess it’s sort of like getting back on that horse after they buck you off (which happened to me quite a few times – once I even broke my arm in a horse riding incident).  The fear is still there but each time you get a little bit more used to it.

The same is true for trying new things in business and life.  Sure you get hurt and bucked off from time to time, but you have to get back on and try different things.  No sense in beating your head against the same wall and getting the same undesired result.  You should try beating it at a slightly different angle or just get off the horse and try a different one.  😀

Anyway, I’m thrilled they did so well and had a good time.  Our daughter rewarded us by getting sick today.  Hopefully she’s better by tomorrow.  Maybe if she watches enough Dora the Explorer she’ll be peachy keen by tomorrow…one can only hope!

I hope all of you other parents out there survived your school’s year end performances!

Author: Aruni | Filed under: parenting | 2 Comments »

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