#RiseAboveFear : Now's The Time

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#RiseAboveFear video by : Mountain Dew

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#DarrKeAageJeetHai - fear my friends makes an individual do things that well.. let's just say are "odd". Through this blog post I talk about the fear of speaking, a fear that resides in more people than you think.

"World's a stage" famously said the poet William Shakespeare but why are we so frightened of the stage! When we talk to people - be it friends or family or even strangers we do not feel the pressure that we do when we're called up to an stage and told to speak our mind - why is that!

Maybe the thought of everyone in the room listening to your words frightens you, maybe that's what "Darr" really is... Isn't it! To move along with the subject of fear, does it has to do anything with age? NO, of course not.

Consider this - public speaking is an art and those who fear of it aren't necessarily just children or teenagers but even adults. I've seen 50-55 year old corporate professionals hesitant to go on the stage, with their legs shaking and tongue twisting while speaking on the mic - and not to mention the constant sweating - now, why is that! That's simply because fear doesn't has to do anything with age, it's just a feeling inside you that will remain with you UNTIL you decide to overcome it.

I take my example for instance, back when I was in the 6th grade I was FRIGHTENED of the stage, I couldn't even bear the thought of standing on the stage, leave apart speaking and addressing an audience. For me, listening to other people was all about saying to myself "wow, speaking on the stage sure does need guts"...

Then one day my SST teacher came to me and said - "I've selected you to play the role of Nehru Ji in the school play this year, you've to act".. I was casual at the time, not realizing that I'll have dialogues to speak but no not just that.. I didn't just have dialogues..

2-3 days later we were given scripts for the play and I saw on the last page "Aditya (playing Nehru) ends the play with the famous speech from Nehru Ji "on the stroke of midnight hour..." it was a speech that was 2 pages long with English words that I hadn't even heard before and for a kid in the 6th grade I was frightened to say the least.

I went to my SST teacher and told her about my fear and she seemed casual as if it's normal but I knew what was going inside me and then I told my father the same. My father said something to me that changed my entire life and something that has ever since made me filled with confidence every time I go on the stage.

My father said, remember son "all those people who will come to watch you in the play and when they'll listen to your speech, you as an individual have to realize that they're not just present there to see you but to listen to the content of the speech that you deliver, you've a huge task in your hands and fear of speaking is nothing, it's only a state of mind where you let your fear get the better of you"... Adding further he said "you can overcome fear but it's the initial step that counts, once you're through with this speech from Nehru Ji, believe me - you'll never be frightened of going on the stage again and addressing an audience" and my father was right...

I delivered the speech in the play and everyone seemed to like it.. I didn't fumble, my legs shook for the initial 30 seconds but the rest of it was just fine.. In fact, in my 7th standard I was again selected to play the part of Nehru Ji and deliver the speech and since then believe me - "fear of speaking" hah! What's that! :)

Therefore I would like to conclude this post by saying that Mountain Dew rightly says - #DarrKeAageJeetHai and #RiseAboveFear - fear of something resides in each one of us, it's about how we tackle the fear that counts. As my father said "it's the initial step that's hard" but after that the mental satisfaction of overcoming the fear that you thought you'll have for all of your life is one that's hard to put into words, even for me as a writer but that's how life is, somethings are meant to be experienced to be realized importance of.

#RiseAboveFear- now's the time! :)