Stressing Reality

Some side notes — I was trying to locate my Toastmasters Speeches in Facebook Notes from way back 2011 and for some reason, the notes themselves are very elusive. Was the Facebook notes section archived or deactivated? I was not even aware of this shift, really. In the meantime, I shall copy and paste whatever transcript that I can find.

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I totally forgot to post this at an earlier date. OMG!

I presented the speech in a "Basag-Mode" version of me, even my evaluator was not expecting my delivery. After stress in work, stress in traffic, stress in studies, I wasn't able to focus on practicing them. (I delivered them in an uninspiring-preacher-like-way, with a little-embarassing-comedy-on-the-side). To tell you the truth, I was tormented by my principals (in the office) on that same date that my speech delivery was assigned. And this served as my Basic Speech Project No. 7 (Research Your Topic) for the El Presidente Toastmasters Club.

MALAPIT NANG MATAPOS ANG SPEECH PROJECTS KO - THREE FOR THE ROAD!!! :D HAPPY!!!! :D

For those who are not informed about this club, I joined the Toastmasters club last 04 November 2010 to hone my public speaking skills. I would like to encourage and to invite all of you guys to be a kibitzer to a Toastmasters Club Meeting. Ours is done every first and third Thursday of the month, 7PM at Max's 2nd Floor Liberty Center, Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong City.

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Fellow Toastmasters and dear friends, YOU SHOULD ADD ME ON FACEBOOK! Because the most recent status was made at 1:48 AM, saying:

Que Barbaridad! Que Horror!

At 2:00 AM this morning, fellow Toastmasters, believe it or not, I haven’t prepared my speech for the night. Actually, what all I have are fragments – key words to craft my write-up and to prep myself up for this celebration. Since our Club President wishes to liven up tonight’s feast, I was pressured to craft a perfect speech to present to you.

Lots of crappy preparations are being saved in my laptop. What kind of topic that would interest this audience? Do I have to tell embarrassing stories? Stories of my childhood...? Stories of my frustrations to crush..?

In the wee hours of night, I’ve looked for topics that would complete this speech. However, I just cannot complete them. For Instance, my laptop has these incomplete documents entitled - My cousin’s nightmare; where voices are; forging weapons; and even Lady Gaga! All of these topics are “shelf items” because these write-ups are incomplete, and maybe, just maybe, I cannot think of ways to end them with a bang.

Fellow Toastmasters, have you experienced this kind of scenario? Whenever a speech date is coming, that is the only time that you would stress yourself to craft a perfect thing to share – and luckily, that thing you made just before the due date is “just perfect”. Maybe because you are convinced enough of the stressing reality – that a due date is coming and would lead you to think and move!

In the famous online encyclopaedia called the Wikipedia, the scenario of inability to write something new can be referred as the writer’s block. “Writer's Block is when you want to write but can't”, according to an American Author Kate Withhelm.

Patricia Huston, MD, MPH, describes writer's block as a "distinctly uncomfortable inability to write," and categorizes the severity of as mild, moderate, and recalcitrant. Mild blockage, Huston believes, is easily resolved by revising expectations, breaking big projects into small ones, and giving oneself positive feedback, among other things. Moderate blockage can be addressed by practicing creative exercises, talking about your work with another supportive writer, or taking a break. In her experience, unmanageable blockage can often be resolved with medical intervention or cognitive restructuring, i.e. therapy. So ladies and gentlemen, this experience can be trivial, temporary, or extreme, that some have been unable to work for years on end, and some have even abandoned their careers!

If you have this kind of “problem”, how do we resolve it? Actually, through my research on the internet, there are lots of writers and experts who have suggested some solutions to this kind of “situation”. Let me mention two.

American author and Smithsonian professor Julia Cameron advocates the practice of morning pages as a remedy to writer's block. Morning pages are 3 handwritten pages of free writing where the purpose is to write without the intention of using the writing for anything. It is a practice that can bring your thoughts to the surface and allow you enter a more creative zone.

And Dr. Robert Boice, a professor emeritus on psychology at Stony Brook University in New York suggests a five-step treatment program. The first is scheduled free writing, which can help a stalled writer gain momentum. The second: contingency planning, which involves setting up schedules and contingencies that force a writer to write at pre-arranged times. Third is to consciously abstain from "maladaptive self-talk," such as telling yourself something will be rejected, while replacing negative statements more positive ones, such as telling yourself how much you enjoy writing. Fourth is establishing a social support group, such as a writing group, that focuses on writing and support. Fifth is to periodically reorder the above to keep these treatments from become habits.

So, fellow toastmasters, the next time that you have this Que Horror scenario, the first thing to remember is not to become discouraged. And remember, there are solutions in solving this kind of problem. Maybe, you need inspiration at the moment, or maybe you need something to eat. As for me, since I end this speech with lots of information, I think I need lots of sleep, because I’ve been awake from 4AM. Goodnight everyone!

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I'm expecting lots of points that I need to improve on, but the evaluator maybe understood that I wasn't myself when I presented the speech project. The audience was expecting an alive performance, and I just cannot do what they requested me to do. Siguro dahil na-swoosh na lahat ng sigla ko noong araw na iyon, walang natira for the dinner time. I ate lots of foodie in that place, my bill reached Php348! @_@

But I have to change my perspective, I need to practice, and I need to put my heart on my Speech Projects. This is for me rin naman. AT HINDI DAPAT AKO PADADALA SA STRESS!!! :D

Oh yeah, the bonus - I WAS SURPRISED THAT I WAS ABLE TO TALK WITH SIR ED FABONAN,
and asked some points on being a CHAMPION in humorous speech category. :)

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(inputted in facebook notes last 03 April 2011)