Colton Cheviron

Cheviron 1

Professor Lynn Raymond

UWRT 1104
September 12, 2016
Overcoming Fear
Growing up I have always been outgoing and social. I was never afraid of public speaking or
being in large crowds; I wanted to be original. But as time progressed I found myself overcome
with anxiety when speaking or even putting my words onto paper. I was afraid of failure and
embarrassment and never knew where I went wrong and this when this issue came about. So,
from whenever that moment was, I made it a mission to overcome this and get back to my
previous self. This is where the story of my twelfth grade senior project comes into play.
What was the project you ask? Well, our assignment was simple, yet nerve racking. We were
to find something we enjoyed doing and turn it into a public service or project, and along with
that write a 8-10 page paper and perform a 10 minute long speech in front of random judges. My
personal project was to train my chocolate lab in search and rescue. This would turn out to be
both the longest speech I had ever done, along with the longest paper I had ever written.
Now this was a semester long project and as I stated before I was now terrified of public
speaking and even writing my ideas on paper. Everyday as the semester carried on I would get
more nervous as the due date approached. Step by step I wrote the paper and tried to only focus
on that first. Then came the speech. Now I couldnt even think about this without being
overcome with anxiety. As the semester went on I slowly brought my speech, project and paper
together and the due date was here.
Through peer review and teacher assistance my paper turned out to get a 90. It really gave me
the confidence I needed to move forward, along with the confidence to get through the speech.
As it neared the time for me to do the speech I began to attract anxiety but I talked myself out of

Cheviron 2
it and strutted into the room with a bold grin and a look of confidence. I walked out of that room
without a stutter and ended up getting a 100 on my speech. I couldnt have been more proud of
myself in the fact that I overcame years of fear and showed myself it was nothing.
This whole project, although very recent, really helped me realize what my literate potential
could be. Whether through note taking, citations, diction, speech development, etc. I now knew
what I was capable of and how to further develop these life long skills into the future.