Stage Fright

I’m a bit of a contradiction we could say. I’m somewhat of an introvert, but one of those rare kinds of people who did public speaking and actually enjoyed it. Now let’s make it clear that my best kinds of speeches were when I ended up making the whole audience laugh, despite the mark I got. I know, move out the way Trevor Noah.

No, but really I’ve always been pretty good in front of crowds. Whether it was public speaking or a school play I always managed to put on a performance, whether it was good or bad is another story. However the one performance I’ve never been able to conquer and still get stage fright to this day, is the act of driving in front of people. This type of stage fright comes in two stages, the first being as soon as I have someone in the passenger seat, I become a rally car driver and not a very good one. The second and definitely worst, is reversing or parking in front of spectators. A good example, one that happens frequently to me is the ordeal of trying to reverse out of my parking at school. I park at a sports club and am still shocked and offended when a group of runners, all geared up decide to congregate around my car. I have to hide the shame of my heavy breathing after the 100m walk from my class. Then I have to consider if I should greet them as I try to press the ever-delayed button to unlock my car. But tragedy strikes when its time to reverse out of the parking, the pressure to not stall, roll forward or rev your car and cause a scene.

I keep holding out hope that the universe will work my way and send the congregation to another person’s car, hopefully someone with an automatic.