long post but i feel so grateful for you guys helping me through final presentation :)

long post but i feel so grateful for you guys helping me through final presentation :) **For whoever needs reassurance on their stuttering, this is a long read for you but I feel like I can relate.** I am a 21 year old physics major that just finished finals. I gave a 7 minute long presentation over differential equations this morning. I know that a whole lot of us have a huge fear of public speaking. I am no different. Yesterday, I found myself looking at the upcoming presentation as daunting. Something that seemed like I was **unable** to do. I came here looking for assurance. It is impossible to overstate the feeling of gratitude that I have for this community, after today. This is the first time I've really interacted with the community and, overall, I got a feeling of positivity from you guys and that carried me through my presentation. I hope that some people who are maybe more conserved people, as I am, will find it in them to get more involved. ​ ​ I was very pessimistic in thinking about having to present. If you can visualize, it seemed to me a dark shadow on all of my thoughts over the presentation. *Thoughts of knowing the math well enough, thoughts of getting the presentation finished in time, obsessing over needing an A on the project to finish the class with an A;* but **most of all** the thought of stuttering while presenting and looking like a fool while standing in front of the entire class*.* It became clear to me eventually that my thoughts of the presentation were negatively formed and casting this shadow. I got off work yesterday and immediately came home to finish the project. I began with just scrolling through r/Stutter . I was overwhelmed at the amount of people talking about their fears and anxieties over presentations during finals week. This offered reassurance and instead of feeling as scared about it, I reassured myself that everyone has things they are insecure about, with no one really greater than the next. I feel as if getting involved in this community relieved pressure as well. I found that opening up and interacting to others, neglecting the feeling of vulnerability because we all have so much in common, was beneficial to my outlook over it too. ​ For the next 6 hours I studied the contents of the presentation. I made sure that I knew what the hell I was even presenting about. I envisioned myself giving the presentation as I wrote it. I kind of look at it as getting the first presentation over with and out of the way. I found points in it that I felt uncomfortable with and resolved them. For example, there were pieces of math that I couldn't necessarily explain in words. I have never thought of them in words, only numbers. I assigned words to the math. This was a very important lesson learned about myself. I gave another presentation almost a month ago. It was over dipole-dipole bonds. Not super heavy in mathematics but still technical speaking. I did a very poor job of explaining the bond because I was incredibly anxious. I blocked about every 10 seconds. 3 minutes of that felt like the worst thing conceivable. What made it more embarrassing is that I got a 92 on it when I should have got a 50 on it. The students graded the presentation and they all felt sorry for me. I got an A so I guess it worked in my favor, in a weird way, but I didn't like the feeling from the experience. This morning, I was much more fluid. Don't get me wrong, my presentation wasn't the best there. But I was optimistic from the moment I stepped in the room. I was very much more at ease in my mind while giving the presentation. I didn't block quite as much as I did in the first presentation. I felt a little more clear in the sense that the thoughts of embarrassment and others' pity on me, were taking up less of my mental bandwidth. I embraced the fact that the presentation was happening, it did not make a shit if I was scared of it or not. So, I did it. I made an A on the presentation. ​ I feel amazing right now. Most importantly, I feel like I couldn't have made it through today without this community. Reading through what you all have to say inspired me to change my direction of thought. I am leaving this with what feels like a new outlook on life. I love you guys.