My Boo Radley

In the story, once Scout learns Boo Radley is a (somewhat) normal person, all the fear she once had for him disappeared. In my life, I still find my "Boo Radley" rather frightening, though not as frightening as it once was. My Boo Radley is public speaking. And not just public speaking. Performing. Being in front of people. It still scares me, though not as badly as it once did.

It used to be that just thinking of going up in front of people would cause me to vomit. In school if I had a presentation to give, I would go to the bathroom and stall until class was over. Or, If I had to talk to the class the next day, I would pretend to be sick. But it actually wasn't very hard to pretend. The fear of being in front of people always gave me flu like symptoms. But, eventually, there were ways I could overcome this fear.

One person who really helped was my dad. He, having the same anxiety issues that I have, understood what I was going through. He taught me a simple trick that he called "looking for tigers". He explained that my fear was irrational, that there was no way that speaking in front of crowd could ever possibly hurt me. He said that the only reason I should ever feel fear is if there is any actual danger, like a tiger in the room, and if there isn't any, then I should have nothing to worry about. I realize now that this was my dad's way of teaching me to put things in perspective. This lesson actually helped me a lot to make my fear less frightening.

Another person who helped was my sixth grade science teacher. At the end of the first semester we were required to give a presentation on marine animals. I was scared so I asked her to help me. She gave me tips how to remain calm in front of a group. She said that the most important thing I could learn was to have confidence in myself. If I knew the material and practiced giving my speech then I didn't have anything to worry about. That year I gave one of my best presentations ever and received 100% on the project.

I know that I will always have to deal with my "Boo Radley" and learn to accept it. But, I am very proud to say that over the years, I have gained much more control over it than it once had over me.