From
the evaluation, I noticed there was a three way similarity in one aspect of my
communication ability. I am uncomfortable in communicating in some
situations. Right away, I knew it was
speaking in front of people whether it was a small group setting or an
audience. I defy public speaking! I stutter.
When I was a child, I stuttered minimally and often self-corrected. It appears when I became about 30 years old,
I started to stutter more profoundly which causes me to avoid public speaking. I
suffer with anxiety and speaking openly raises my anxiety level. This
is one reason that I am so grateful for on-line courses. I am able to express
myself without worrying about pronunciations, repeated words or phrases and
things like that that don’t bother other people like it does me. My
co-worker agreed that I rate “moderate” when concerning verbal aggression.
Whereas my friend from childhood thinks I am verbally aggressive. I thought not me, I’m a pussy cat.
The difference that I noted is that the
other two people who evaluated me did not know intense my fear of public
speaking is. I won’t inform them either.
In the category of listening, I fall into group 1, which says that I am people
oriented which may interfere with my ability to be too trusting. I disagree with that. I love people but I don’t trust easily.
The
first concept that resonates with me is an expert from the text. The text says, “Your self-concept strongly
influences how and when you communicate with others, the reverse is also true;
when you interact with other people, you get impressions from them that reveal
how they evaluate you as a person and a communicator” (O’Hair & Weismann,
2012). You see, I like to communicate in settings that are small where people
see me as just that—a person. I don’t
have to pretend or have a great persona, I just present me. Secondly, “You let others know about yourself
through self-presentation” (O’Hair & Weismann, 2012). I think I present
myself better through face-to-face communication and e-mail. I enjoy talking
one-on-one and I like to compose material.
References
O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real
communication: An introduction. New York:
Bedford/St. Martin's.
Wow, after reading your first paragraph-I felt I was reading about how I feel when talking in class or to a group. I have never enjoyed being in the spotlight! I can still remember high school and having to read reports to the class-I would get so red, clammy hands, and I couldn’t look at the class, I looked at my paper the whole time. I can talk to people now, but it’s still hard. Thank you for sharing your personal struggles.
ReplyDeleteI admire your honesty;public speaking could be intimidating; I guess we keep working every time at getting better at it. My driving force as always being courage,being well prepared and remembering each experience is a step towards being better at communicating publicly. I guess evaluating ourselves is highly necessary and finding ways to overcome our challenges at our own pace would make us better communicators.
ReplyDelete