I’m with you. I have stage fright that manifests as shakiness, being breathless, turning cherry red, etc. I took public speaking and then also actually performed public speaking/teaching as a requirement of my job. The thing that makes it endurable at my job is repetition of the CONTENT and the ENVIRONMENT, not the act itself. Change up my subject or put me in front of a different size crowd and my brain forgets how to brain.

What I can say with absolute certainty is that I am no less affected by stage fright now than I was then, despite having done it countless times. I just panic about it ahead of time, dwell on it afterward, and cringe at the worst of the memories. Speech class did nothing but humiliate me.

But it’s not just speech classes. I would take poor grades if it meant I didn’t have to give a history presentation during class. I was perfectly capable and even enjoyed writing the essays, but reading them out loud killed me.