This article was originally written in Turkish and has been translated into English with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The translation may contain errors; the original Turkish version is the authoritative text.
The dictionaries of the Turkish Language Association define heyecan (excitement, nervousness) as a strong and temporary emotional state arising from causes such as joy, fear, jealousy or love.
Nervous excitement is part of our lives. Every person, as long as they live, has certainly experienced one of these feelings many times. When we are happy, angry or jealous, and above all when we love or are in love, our heart beats faster and the colour of our face changes. When we are angry or afraid we turn pale; when we see someone we love or feel embarrassed, we blush and turn pink.
Sometimes sweet excitement adds colour to our lives and makes us happy. Falling in love, giving a concert, speaking in public and so on make for difficult moments. They make our hands and feet tremble. And before and after job interviews, or the end-of-year and graduation examinations held before a jury at conservatories, we hardly know what to do with ourselves.
One of the most significant of these situations is speaking in public. Our breathing is disrupted, and the more our breathing is disrupted, the more nervous we become. Almost everyone who speaks in public feels nervous. However, a measured amount of nervousness, one that does not harm the speech, is the best kind.
So how can we get rid of this troublesome nervousness that affects our speaking negatively? First of all, we must keep our mind and body relaxed. We should begin our speech by remembering the diaphragmatic breathing I shared with you, my readers, in earlier articles, and by taking deep breaths. We should do relaxing exercises for the body. Once you have convinced yourself deep down that you are not nervous and that you will overcome this, avoid saying things to the audience such as “I’m very nervous” or “Please forgive me if I make a mistake because of my nerves”. Nobody can easily tell that you are nervous, so do not give yourself away. In addition, to be a good speaker, good preparation, preparing the place where the speech will be given, your clothing and planning in advance how you will deliver the speech are all very important. Whether your speech will be improvised or read from a text also affects how nervous you feel. I will discuss these topics in detail in later articles.