I stuttered one presentation and ever since I keep on stuttering whenever I talk
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I stuttered one presentation and ever since I keep on stuttering whenever I talk Hey, I really needed to get this off my chest because it’s been weighing on me for a while. I’m currently a sophomore in college, and like the title says, I completely bombed a presentation for my club—and it’s been stuck in my head ever since. I joined this liaison program within the club to get mentorship. It’s a small group of seven people around my age, plus one mentor who’s older and more experienced. Everyone is super nice and open with each other, and I didn’t think much of it—until I had to speak. We were assigned to present on a specific topic, and I honestly thought I was comfortable talking in front of people. The presentation wasn’t graded, but I didn’t prepare enough, and I ended up stuttering through the entire thing. I know I should’ve devoted more time to it, but even so, it turned into such an embarrassing moment for me that the scene keeps replaying in my head. I can’t seem to shake it, and it’s been stressing me out a lot. At the next meeting (which was today), I just wanted to contribute a simple idea to our group discussion, but the second I opened my mouth, I started stuttering again. To make things worse, one of the mentees asked me a basic question about another club where I hold a leadership position, and I couldn’t even explain what the club was about. The mentor in my liaison group used to work with me in that same club last year. She was the one who interviewed me, chose me, and set me up in that leadership role. Just thinking about how disappointed she must’ve felt when I couldn’t answer that question makes my heart ache so much. I genuinely want to work on my speech and be able to talk coherently with others. I’ve realized that I’ve become more introverted since moving to college, but I’m really trying to step out of my comfort zone whenever I can. Do any of you have tips for speaking in front of people or overcoming nerves after making a mistake? How did you move past a bad experience with public speaking? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you so much for reading this long message.