Gabriela Hondal

July 30, 2018

SPC 1608
Persuasive Speech

Topic: Why every individual should do something that scares them every day.

Speech Title: Face the Fear

General Purpose: The general purpose is to persuade.

Specific Purpose: The specific purpose is to persuade the audience to overcome one of their

fears each day

1. Introduction

A. Attention-getter: (Attention) Robert Sharma once said “The fears we don’t face become

our limits”. Fear is a dreadful emotion that a person feels when their brain registers that

something or someone is dangerous. I am sure that every single person in this room has

experienced fear at some point in their life and is not sure what they can do to confront it.

B. Common ground: The audience should care about this topic because it deals with a very

common feeling and it can be life changing to know how to control it and overcome it.

C. Credibility: I can back up research from articles like the American Bar Association and

States News Association and I also have personal experience with fear just like many people do.

D. Thesis: The main point of this speech is to show the audience the importance of facing

your fear and to persuade them to confront a different fear each day because it can make every

aspect of your life better.

 E. Preview: From this speech, the audience will learn how to control their own emotions and

understand that it is normal to feel this way and why it is important to face it.

Transition sentence between Intro and Body: “First, let’s talk about why we actually feel

fear and why people don’t do anything about it majority of the time.”

II. Body

A. Main Point #1: (Need/Problem) The problem is that people are not facing their fears

and that is limiting them to the point where they don’t see their true potential. In this point, I will

be discussing why is it that fear takes over us sometimes and why it can be hard to respond.

1. Supporting Idea: We have all been in that moment of fear. (1)That moment where you

feel every single inch of your body tense up, you start to see dark spots everywhere, the room in

which you are in is suddenly scorching and you can’t seem to speak a single word. Believe it or

not, fear is actually a good thing because it lets us know when a situation could be a threat for us.

However, the important thing is to not let it dictate how we live our lives. It is very easy to let a

fear control you and keep you in the same place all your life mainly because you are scared of

the outcome. It could be that you think you are going to get hurt, whether that be, physically or

emotionally, or someone you love might be hurt. This is not a good thing because it can keep you

from reaching your full potential.

2. Supporting Idea: (A) The first step is realizing how extremely common it is to feel fear.

(B) According to the Ultimate List of Phobias and Fears, “15-20 percent of people in the United

States experience specific phobias at least once in their lifetime”. (C) You must understand that

you are not the only one that is scared of something. (D) It helps knowing that there are others

that share the same fears as you. When you are afraid, your body goes into fight or flight

response which means that you release lots of hormones and your body gets ready to fight
whatever danger there is perceived to be. This is why you experience all of those unpleasant

emotions that I previously described.

3. Supporting Idea: Because your fears can cause you to feel this way, you can become

frozen up and your first reaction is not to respond. The most common fears in the U.S. is the fear

of bugs and spiders, fear of flying, fear of closed spaces, fear of the dark, fear of dying and the

fear of public speaking. These fears don’t have to be a part of you always because you could try

confronting them one by one.

Transition sentence between Main Point #1 and Main Point #2: “Now that we know what

fear is, let’s talk about how to deal with it and what we can do about it.”

B. Main Point #2: (Satisfaction/Solution) In order to get over your fear, you must face it and

let it know that you are not scared anymore. In this point, I will discuss what we can do to help

us throughout this process.

1. Supporting Idea: There is no other way than getting over a fear than simply doing

whatever it is and realize that it may not be as bad at seems. Sometimes your brain can create a

reality that is not really what is currently happening, which can escalate the situation even more.

This is why it is important to focus on your breathing when you feel extremely frightened. This

will allow you to become detached from your situation and see things from a different

perspective.

2. Supporting Idea: After researching, open monitoring appears to be the most

effective method. Open Monitoring- Sitting down and carefully examining the area around you

without giving your thoughts the power to take over you. It allows all of your anxious thoughts

to pass but you are not being consumed by them. You see things as they really are. It has been

proven to help anxious people feel calmer in tense situations.

 3. Supporting Idea: Anytime you begin to feel scared, sit quietly for a couple of

minutes and take everything in. Always notice your present moment experience. Be mindful of

your meditation, it can have a big effect in helping you overcome your fears. I used to be really

scared of anything that had to do with the ocean and I had to come to terms with the fact that no

one could overcome that fear for me but myself. I did use the open monitoring method and

realized it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

Transition sentence between Main Point #2 and Main Point #3: “Now that we have

discussed how to confront your fear let’s talk about why this is important”

C. Main Point #3: (Visualization) What would the world like if people faced their fears? In

this point, I will discuss that if people faced their fears more often, they will only grow as human

beings, both mentally or emotionally.

1. Supporting Idea: Before facing your fears, you are a limited human being. You

don’t really know your full potential because you are allowing yourself to hide behind this wall.

By avoiding the things that scare you, you could be missing out on once in a lifetime

experiences. (2)Imagine being thousands of feet in the air about to jump off of a plane, you feel

all the air blowing around you, you are sweating from the heat the suit brings, and you feel

yourself starting to lose balance as you step over the edge of the plane.

2. Supporting Idea: You must take that extra step. If you don’t, you will never know

how brave you truly are and the extent to which you can arrive. (3) That fear of flying could stop

you from going to see that fairytale wedding your sister has been dreaming of all her life or from

travelling the world and gaining cultural perspective. You cannot live your life avoiding these

types of scenarios forever because you will just grow up being very unhappy.
 3. Supporting Idea: It does not all have to be all at once. You can take it day by day

1and do a step at a time. You do not grow as a person if you allow your fears to consume you. It

may be a scary thought, but you will be more confident and have more positive experiences. I

didn’t beat my fear of the ocean in one day. In fact, I still have times where I am frightened. You

must understand that it is a process and you must take it day by day.

Transition sentence between Main Point #3 and Conclusion: “In conclusion, everyone

needs to understand that fears are a part of life.”

III. Conclusion

A. Review: (A) It may appear that you are the only one that feels this extreme overwhelming

feeling of anxiety.(B) According to the States News Service, one out of every 14 people

experience fear related disorders. (C)This is a lot of people when you think about it.(D) It’s

important to recognize that this is something that we can overcome.

B. Restate Thesis: The main point of this speech is to show the audience the importance of

facing your fear and to persuade them to confront a different fear each day because it can make

every aspect of your life better.

C. Clincher: (Call to Action) Tonight, we are all overcoming one of the most common fears

which is public speaking. When you leave here tonight, make a list of 7 things that scare you and

try each one for the next week. If you are scared of skydiving, there’s a skydiving center called

iFLY that is less than 20 minutes away from here. If you are scared of the ocean, we have

Clearwater beach. Go with your friends and family on your day off. The first step is to try, take

action!
 References

Bezdek, K. B. (2017, October 31). Why Our Fears Should Not Send Us Running. UWIRE Text,

p. 1. Retrieved from

http://link.galegroup.com.db11.linccweb.org/apps/doc/A523808991/AONE?

u=lincclin_hcc&sid=AONE&xid=e05a5d1e

Galler, D. (2018, January). Mindfulness 101: Overcoming Fear. GP Solo eReport, 7(6).

Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.db11.linccweb.org/apps/doc/A537983328/AONE?

u=lincclin_hcc&sid=AONE&xid=6bbc1916

RECONDITIONING THE BRAIN TO OVERCOME FEAR. (2016, November 21). States News

Service. Retrieved from

http://link.galegroup.com.db11.linccweb.org/apps/doc/A470924111/AONE?

u=lincclin_hcc&sid=AONE&xid=2644a81e

DEMAREE, N. (2015). Overcoming Panic: Stress-Induced Training and Education. Fire

Engineering, 168(5), 18-22