Gals,

In case I have not emphasized this enough in my previous posts, one of the best things that I have done for myself in decades was to join Toastmaster's International. When I started there one year ago, I was a nervous wreck of a speaker. I would stand up to talk and no words would come out of my mouth!

After months of struggling with anxiety regarding speaking, and practicing, practicing, practicing, I can now say that I'm a decent speaker. Today, I gave my seventh or eighth speech in the community. I talked at the Unitarian church to a group of about 25 people and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Last night, I had a wicked migraine and was tempted to cancel. Instead, I called the convener and asked if I could arrive a bit late. That gave me time to sleep in. I was not feeling at all well when I delivered my one-hour speech BUT it went extremely well. Moreover, I sold seven books!

The group was impressed that I made such an effort to come out when I was not well, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them all. None of this would ever have happened without Toastmasters. TM was the greatest learning tool and confidence booster that I've ever had in my post-university years.

Just thought I'd pass that on :-)
Sigrid