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## Hello, everyone. 
Welcome to my blog and another wonderful edition of the Hive Learners' featured post. The truth is that every human roaming the face of the earth has a tendency to be afraid; it is a feeling present in everybody. No one can come out boldly and say that all their lives they have never been afraid or felt scared at some point in their lives, maybe because of a decision they are about to take. 
 https://img.inleo.io/DQmdUYUWGMhKgooB5M3T1mUz7y4TMEv6sUttWMP6yvjefnF/20240415_131310_0000.png 
<sub> designed in canva.</sub>

There comes a time in our lives where fear will want to take control, but if we are able to grab a hold of ourselves and fight it off, we stand a chance, but if we wallow in fear, we lose the fight. For one to face or fight their fears, they must be courageous. We need courage to win the fight against our fears. Many people's biggest fear is death; the earlier they accept it is inevitable, the better. Fear changes from one individual to the next; what you fear the most is not what the other person fears the most. Sometimes the demon you fear the most, another individual has made peace with, so what we fear varies from one individual to the next. 

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<div class="phishy"> What is fear? </div></center>

Fear, in simple terms, can be defined as the state of being afraid. Afraid of someone or something, afraid of the result of a decision made or about to be made. Fear is a difficult thing to deal with once you let it get a hold of you. Fear is something a lot of people have been dealing with for ages and are still trying to get rid of. Fear clouds the mind and takes away your focus; fear can even make one see things that are not there. 

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<div class="phishy"> My experience with stage fright. </div></center>

I don't know if how my parents raised me is the cause of the problem I suffered; they were quite strict and wanted us indoors all the time and away from the rest of the world. I don't know if that is the reason I feel so uncomfortable with crowds. I don't like attending ceremonies all because of the crowd; being in the crowd was a problem for me, as was standing before the crowd. I try as much as I can to avoid crowded places. I joined the church choir once and was forced to leave the day they appointed me as the one to sing during the praise and worship session. 

The Sunday I was supposed to sing, I was absent from church and never went for choir rehearsal again. Stage fright has really hindered me from doing a lot of things and kicked me out of many organizations I joined. I just enjoy being a floor member, and the moment I am appointed or asked to do anything that will take me to the front is the last day of being a member of that organization. Stage fright caused me a lot of harm before I realized the importance of putting it on hold. I realized I cannot continue running away. In the university, there are many works to defend and many things that will bring me before the crowd, and if I don't fight them, I will just be a shadow of myself. 

On several occasions, I ended up disgracing myself in public whenever I was asked to speak or make a presentation. No matter how much I rehearsed on deal day, I was bound to mess up, and it always left me in shame, and I felt the need to put it to a stop. 

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<div class="phishy"> How I managed to fight my fear. </div></center>

Overcoming stage fright was a big win for me. I took a lot of drastic measures, some of which I was in support of and some of which I did not, but I had to do them anyway.

- **Practice makes perfect:** I joined organizations that will give me chances to stand before crowds, and this time when I am given a task instead of running, I get it done. I joined the Bible club in my church and the teenagers department; these two organizations helped me boost my confidence. The more frequently I stood before a crowd, the more I got used to it. 

- Good rehearsal: before I go before people to speak, I rehearse at home, in most cases using my siblings as my audience. 

- Avoiding eye contact also helps; getting eye contact while addressing a crowd can destabilize you and mess up the whole presentation. 

 
**Thanks for reading my post.**
 
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