You’re going to get nervous

talking in front of a group of people.

You’re going to dread talking to new people

and stutter and feel lost when you do.

You’ll wonder,

“Why am I like this”

You’ll overthink the way you walk

and stress over the smallest things.

You’ll stress over even breathing too loud sometimes.

You’ll have so much to say,

but you won’t say what you want.

Why?

You’ll be scared of people rejecting you.

It will take you a long time to feel

like you can be yourself around someone.

You’ll hate yourself after every small mistake,

and not want to talk afterwards.

They’ll tell you that you’re going to grow out of it,

but you’ll know that happen anytime soon.

The words,

“We’re going to go around the class and introduce ourselves,”

will be the most dreaded words in school.

But don’t worry:

Your presentation won’t last forever,

not everyone is going to judge you,

and when the day is over,

it is so much more interesting

to be strange and awkward

than it is to simply not.