I'm 20, a third year medical student and for the last 7 years (since the age of 13) I've been struggling with public speaking (i.e presenting in front of a class, reading a passage out loud, answering in class and so on) and I've luckily managed to avoid all sorts of presentations in high school but in med school, they're worth marks. In first and second year, I've managed to present in front of my professors one-on-one, but now in third year, we're put in groups and need to present in front of our class, and I seriously can't do that. Spoke to my professor yesterday and he told me as a med student and a future physician, communication skills and confidence are crucial and the only way to overcome this is that I need to face my fears and keep trying presenting until I get used to it, but I can't. I'll embarrass myself in front of everyone, everyone will think that I'm a scaredy cat. My voice will start shaking sooo badly, I'll stutter and barely make any sense AT ALL. I want to join toastmasters, but there's no point, I barely have time to do other activities. I feel like everyone else is already confident in public speaking in med school BUT ME. Is there anyone here in the same boat as me?
