Tag: speeches

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 12

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Christmas balls, stars and light part 12
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Day 12

Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?

Daily Writing Prompt

The first time I was on stage or performed was when I was 6. I played Mary in a Christmas play in kindergarten. Josef was played by a boy named Tom. He also went to the same class as me. He used to live opposite my building. Unfortunately, he died in a moped accident when he was 16. Anyway, I don’t remember anything about the play, but I have photos of it. In school, we had plays, but I didn’t want to have any speaking parts. In secondary school, when I was in a smaller class, one of my classmates’ dad worked in a local theatre, and he helped us with the productions. We had spring plays, and once, we had a musical and one scene in English. It was fun because we were a small group of different ages. There was no nuisance behaviour from others if you weren’t good. After all, they were school plays and not Broadway.

I never had speeches unless you count presentations. Those are nerve-wracking. I only want to say my things and leave. I try to avoid speeches, and I decline if I ever have to give one. Even if I got paid, I still wouldn’t do it. One-on-one is OK, but not in front of a crowd. Someone says you get used to talking to an audience, but I don’t want to get used to it. I don’t want to have the feeling of my mouth being dry and my heart beating faster. Let those people who like to make speeches do it. I’m not meant to do them. My skills lay elsewhere. We can’t all become speakers.

Networking is just another word for decorated

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colourful game pieces
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On Wednesday I went to a job fair. I went to listen to a few speeches and nothing else. One was about why there aren’t many females in ‘Information technology’ and the other was about knowing the right people. The rest of the speeches isn’t relevant to this post. What they had in common was networking. In my opinion, networking is just another word for decorated. You have to be “colourful” and be ready to come out of your shell. In other words, be something you’re not. They say you should be yourself but not exactly yourself. This is very difficult for a shy or introverted person. Especially when you should promote yourself about the things you’re good at. Especially females have this problem. We are too modest about our skills. Not everyone can do everything. Life is a learning process and things you can’t do, you can learn.

I don’t like networking and I wish there was a way to avoid human contact altogether when it comes to that. I also don’t like places with a lot of people gathering around in small spaces. I don’t like pretending I’m outgoing when I’m not. I didn’t talk to anyone at the job fair. Except when I met one of the speakers who’s a Finnish celebrity who works on TV. I wasn’t nervous at all when I met him. I wish I could walk to another stranger to introduce myself that easily. When I went to a job interview on Tuesday I wasn’t nervous either. But I never know what to say so I give short answers. Which is probably one of the reasons I don’t get anything. I also don’t know what to say what skills I have. At least not what could be useful in the job market. I can do a lot of different things but I’m not good at either of them. I’m just average.

In one of the speeches, it was said the worse thing that can happen is a no. But I’m not afraid of that because I’m used to it. The worse thing is when you think you hear a yes but then they change their minds. Or you have so much hope but then it’s smashed to pieces one way or another. Then you think why bother when you get nothing in return. That’s what networking is, disappointments and decorated shallowness. The only person who can succeed is someone who knows how to represent themselves. For other’s, it’s much harder. It’s quite sad how job search is more of a circus these days. It’s not only what you can do, but it’s also about what you could do for them. It’s not real, it’s a decoration and people don’t want to or can’t do anything to change that.