Thicker Skin

One of the reasons for my new project, of creating an online video course sharing my experience in starting a career in international development, is that I want to grow thicker skin. I want to be able to take criticism (well-intentioned or otherwise) with grace. What better place to learn than on the internet? I also chose to host it on a teaching platform instead of youtube because the commenters on youtube are generally not very constructive.

This reminds me of when I started to train myself to do public speaking, back in high school. I was terrified. I naturally try to avoid the spotlight; I think much better on paper than in speech. Yet, I knew I had to learn in order to represent my ideas well. So for years I pushed and pushed and pushed, envious of those who had natural public speaking charisma. At one point, I became much better.

Now is time for training for a different type of public speaking.