Being confident has always been seen as a good trait to have but for someone who stands out this can be a problem. I admit that at times I've struggled with confidence due to having Treacher Collins Syndrome and being worried about what people would think of me and also whether or not they could understand me. The fact is as a person who already stands out you will likely stand out more if you appear nervous whereas if you act like confident and like you belong people will likely take far less notice.
As with all things practice makes perfect, the first time I had to give a presentation at high school I burst into tears, I'm not sure what I was worried about but I just got very nervous. As time went on I got better and became better at getting up in front of people. One of the things that helped me with this was playing guitar. My music school usually has a concert around Christmas and also another one around the summer, my teacher was keen for me to play at one of them and after seeing what it was like as a non-performer I finally agreed. My first performance was at a Christmas concert I was still inexperienced so I only played a simple carol-god rest ye merry gentlemen. The performance went well, it seemed to fly by and I wanted to do more. I did several more performances sitting down either simple songs or grade songs with a backing track. It finally got to a point when I wanted to do a cover of a proper song and I decided on Can't Stop by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I practised with another student who played bass guitar and one of the drum teachers played drums and another teacher sang. It went well but I was so nervous that my leg wouldn't stop shaking, my mum later commented that she thought I was tapping my foot! Since then I've performed on numerous occasions most recently covering Everlong which you can see in
this post.
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Playing guitar i with other people n front of an audience has certianly helped my confidence
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During my degree I've certainly been glad that I'm a lot more confident than I once was, what with meeting new people, making new friends, group projects and of course several presentations. That said there are still future trials, the main one I'm currently focused on is the presentation I have to give for my honours project. Everyone has to give a 10 minute presentation, without notes on their honours project in front of everyone who is giving presentations that day as well as the people marking, other lecturers and maybe even people from the various labs who have come to watch the students who have been working in their lab. So all that said I'm pretty nervous but I know I can do it and I'm sure everyone else will be just as nervous. There is also the aspect of after university in terms of interviews whether it be for a job or for further learning opportunities such as a pHD. I had to do a mock interview with my honours project supervisor and while it did not go particularly well I now know what I need to do next time round.
Thanks for reading.
