Imagine anxiously rocking back and forth in the broken down auditorium seat. With every motion, the squeaks echo in your ears, bombarding your eardrums. You are surrounded by oceans of faces; some people you have never met, while others are your closest friends and family members. You nervously wander up to the podium that is on center stage without even registering what is happening, but maybe that’s for the best. With every step closer, you feel your heartbeat sink further and further into your stomach that’s already filled with butterflies.

“Why are you doing this? Would it be better if you just run off stage right now?” you think to yourself. Stopping at the harsh wooden stand, it stares into your soul and you stare right back. Your fingers shutter as they touch the smooth edges of the pages that contain everything you are about to stutter to these poor people. The intimidation that the crowd is giving off oozes over you, you can just feel it invading your air, making harder and harder for you to breathe, but you have to get through this; there is no other way.

Public speaking is your worst fear and as you stand there you realize you are about to come head to head with it and there is no turning back now, so you take one last deep breath and begin.

Have you ever had that happen to you? Do you know the feeling? Because odds are most of you have experienced this feeling; 74% of people experience speech anxiety and the awful thing is there is only one way to get over it and that is to practice. You know what people say, practice makes perfect, and I understand that.

The more you do something, the more comfortable you are doing it or you just get better the more times you do do it, but why do Universities all over the country require students to take a public speaking course during their undergrad years?

Personally, I think it does more harm than anything else. I know whenever I have something to present in a class I am stressed about it for weeks; from the moment I get the speaking assignment to the moment my grade is entered into canvas my anxiety levels are higher than normal. I cannot think about anything other than will people think I'm stupid?

Will this one grade be so bad it determines my GPA? What if I completely freeze and nothing comes out of my mouth? During those few weeks, my brain is consumed by these thoughts and many others just like them, leaving very little room for anything else.

Okay, so I might be over exaggerating this a little, but you guys know what I mean. Everyone is scared of something and can relate to this on some level. But why are certain people forced to face those fears while other people who are scared of spiders, for instance, do not and just have their friend's or moms kill the ugly, dangling thing in the corner?