Kristi Curry (Public Speaking)
Self-Employed
Austin, TX
I've had problems with public speaking over the last ten years. I felt out of control. I was anxiety ridden and it stopped me from doing what I needed to do. I couldn't make eye contact with anybody and felt like there was something that separated me from the audience. I would start to freak out as much as a week before I had to do a speech. I was always avoiding and postponing speaking opportunities, it was hard. I just didn't really want to be doing it. I felt anxiety and it really didn't feel good to do it.
I started to do Toastmasters to overcome my stage fright and almost didn't make it in the door thinking that they might ask me to talk. The fear of public speaking didn't fit my persona because I'm seen by everyone as the rock that they can depend on. Career wise, the fear had become a stumbling block. My business depends that I have enthusiasm and express to other people what my business is about. I had to have the drive for doing what I do because that's what gets people interested. If I didn't have that, my business would not survive, so it was essential for me to overcome this problem.
I knew that I had to do something and I woke up one morning and thought to myself that hypnosis might work. I called A New Day Hypnosis and after my first session with Laura, I volunteered to speak at Toastmasters and won a ribbon for my talk. It was really strange for me to want to volunteer and be open to getting up in front of the group. During the speech, I felt more connected to the audience and noticed that I had more confidence. I felt like I was able to have a formulated idea about what I was going to say. This has been a great tool to keep me from getting spun up. The ability to relax has been a key piece because when I'm relaxed I can make progress. If I stay spun up I don't get anywhere and there's nothing to be confident about.
At this point, I will be speaking at a wine and cheese client appreciation night coming up. This is my first professional speech for my business and this is also the first time that I'm not saying to myself "how do I get out of it?" I know that my message needs to come across to people. I'm crafting that now and I'm actually excited to see how it goes. It doesn't bother me to think about getting up and talking and it's amazing to me that I'm not freaking out. Now I want to say these things and just think about the importance of the messages that I have to share.
I feel more confident and in control now. It has changed the overall cause and effect of everything that I'm about. I'm progressing in directions that I want to progress in and that's been huge because my livelihood depends on it. I would absolutely recommend A New Day Hypnosis and plan to give a speech about hypnosis at Toastmasters. I feel like I've achieved a real benefit from it. Hypnosis is this nebulous thing that nobody really understands it or knows what it is and I've had people tell me that it's scary to them because it's about someone controlling you. People have this image about hypnosis and until you do it, it's hard to understand what it's like. I look at hypnosis as a tool to help me do the things that I want to do. I'm confident about the changes that I've made because I don't have that feeling of avoidance anymore. I don't feel overwhelmed and I'm just ready to do what I need to do.