By Nate Fisher

We live in a world where fear can easily hijack our lives, alter our perceptions, and leave us paralyzed at any given moment. Fear can be a reasonable response to danger, but our signals often become crossed with events that won’t harm us but feel like they may. One of these instances commonly experienced by students is the fear of public speaking, known more broadly as “social phobia.”

Marcus Powell, a Meridian freshman, is unique in that he’s already taken steps to successfully conquer his fear of speaking in front of others: “Because I’m a quiet person, anytime I go up in front of the class and talk to people, I get a little bit nervous. I eventually got over it; I’ve overcome that struggle.” According to a publication from Columbia State University, Marcus shares a fear that affects up to 85% of the general population. Students in every age group wrestle with some form of social phobia. Though some people swear their anxiety about public speaking enhances their performance, it can also be detrimental.

Marcus explains that he’s often felt uncomfortable in the past when he presented a project to the class or was called on by his teachers to answer a question. Despite this, he says he’d like to be a video game streamer or social media influencer, where he’d potentially face an audience of at least ten high school classrooms of people online (on a slow day). Social phobia can be irrational because it creates seemingly self-contradicting circumstances like this.

So how did Marcus do it? When we hear kitschy slogans about “overcoming fear,” what does that mean regarding our minds and bodies? Marcus has successfully employed a common therapeutic technique known as “flooding.” Much like immersion helps one best learn a new language, flooding is an effective way of pushing back against our fight/flight/freeze response. When this response is triggered, there’s often no tiger in the room threatening us. Nonetheless, there’s no denying that our fear is genuine. Flooding is purposeful exposure to the things that allow our stress hormones to wreak havoc on our bodies. The goal is to reveal how irrational the fear is and forces us to put things into perspective by continually facing down what scares us. For Marcus, that means placing himself in stressful situations like speaking in front of others to become used to it, which has reduced the effect that fear has on him overall.

“I felt great eventually overcoming it,” he says. With his newfound confidence, he’s been taking further leaps to flood his system until the wreckage of that fear washes away. Marcus explains, “I’ve been talking to more people, introducing myself to people I had pretty much never talked to here. We’ve become great friends.” He says he’s more open and has fewer issues answering when called on in class. It’s challenging to step outside of your comfort zone and glare at your fears until they back themselves into the same corner they’ve put you in before. We know that Marcus will only continue to whittle this fear down to its actual size and inspire both students and adults alike to do the same.