Overcoming Being an Introvert to a Public Speaker

I am an introvert through and through. Regardless of what people might think or see on the outside, I was that child and adult until just recently, who got purple splotches when talking to strangers or speaking in front of a group. As a child I was too shy to talk to my teachers, extended aunts and uncles. Through my adulthood I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone but with a lot of resistance and awkward moments. So, for me to willingly register to have a booth at an expo and publically speak was short of a miracle.

Let me back up. A year prior to speaking that this expo event I was aware that I had something to say, so many things to say frankly, but no idea how to put them into words. I had always felt comfortable writing and keeping my words to myself. It was entirely different to share them in social media, let alone verbally on social media or in front of a group. But something inside whispered to me that it was time, it was my time to start talking.

Shortly after I made the commitment to follow the inner calling, Breathwork entered my life and changed the course of human trajectory. You can read more about my journey with Breathwork here. I don’t know if Breathwork healed something ancient, tribal, familial, or collective that I’d been carrying, but I do know what it did to. I felt freedom, I felt safe, and I started to talk. As part of my healing, I decided to apply this spiritual healing I was experiencing of sharing and speaking, in human form through public speaking. Within a week I was asked to join The Best You Expo.

The weeks leading up to the expo I frantically wrote speeches, practiced them with frustration, tossed the index cards in the trash, and started over and over again. After enough anxiety I decided to breathe and surrender. The next day I met a woman who offered to help me write my talk and felt grounded in what I would share.

I had never been to an expo event, so I researched how to set up my booth and discovered that it could costs thousands. I refused to spend the cash and breathed again through the frustration and unknown. A day later I met a woman who gave me tips on how to create a welcoming space with items I already had in my home. Every breath led me to the event.

I arrived to The Best You Expo at the Long Beach Convention Center with all of my plants, sheep skin rugs, crystals and candles only to discover someone had taken and already set up in my booth. In that moment, although my human self was annoyed, I surrendered to my higher self and knew everything would fall into place exactly as it was intended.

After working with the expo staff, I arrived at my new booth.  It was in the back corner. It had no foot traffic. Again, my human self was fearful that no one would find me, I surrender to my higher self and knew it was exactly as it was intended to be.

Here’s when the magic started to reveal itself. Because my booth was in the back corner, and the exhibitor next to me also no showed, I had not one, but two booths, and so much space that in my largest Breathwork class at the expo, I had 25 people laying on the floor breathing.

I was happy with my first speech, and the people who shared with me afterwards how they related, and how it touched them. So many amazing lessons came not just from the expo but from the journey of arriving.