be brave

Even after two years of presentations, class participation and French orals I have never gotten over my fear/dislike of public speaking. I think it has something to do with what they call “self-efficacy” – I never believe that I will do a good job and so I never do a good job.

Tomorrow is my first presentation (of many) this year. It will be in French and with no notes or anything to help me out…but rather than seeing it as something scary to be gotten out of the way as quickly as possible, I am really going to try to see it as a fresh start and do my best with it.

of making new friends, when I realised that for me, it actually comes under this goal. I have just moved to a new country where I only know one other person, and I really want to make new friends while I’m here. There is no shortage of new people to get to know – I’m here with about 200 other international students – so it’s just a question of being brave enough to make the first move and start talking to people.

I’ve already started conversations with quite a few other people, and I’ve been happy afterwards that I did, but there are so many other people I could have talked to but didn’t because I was too shy. However, the welcome committee has a big “day out” planned for us international people tomorrow and I am really going to make an effort with this.

...that I need to do every day life, but right now I’m thinking about my flight to Ghana on Tuesday morning. I know that I’ve done this before, and that makes it easier, and I know that it will be an amazing experience, but I still have that nervous ache in the pit of my stomach.

I am the quietest person you could imagine, so for me to do this is a big deal. I wish sometimes I had just looked for a job at home like most of my friends, but at the same time I would be so disappointed with myself if I didn’t do this. This is where all those inspiring quotes I’ve collected come in!

So I am just going to be brave, get on the plane by myself, have a fantastic time over there, and (hopefully) come back a stronger and better person for it.