I know I've blabbed on here so much about the amazing physical transformation that I've lived through in the last 16 months, but this week for the first time, I've experienced and realized another sort of transformation: my confidence level.
I've never really been a very confident person, and my weight has been the biggest reason for that. Throughout the years, I have been a bit on the shy side and not very confident speaking in front of large groups.
This week, I was given the assignment at work of presenting two hours worth of material to a group of about 55-60 co-workers: fellow administrators, building secretaries, and district office employees. The topic wasn't the easiest to present (customer service/family-school partnerships), so I was very intimidated when my boss asked me to do this.
I spent about two weeks preparing my presentation and the activities that would go along with it. I started getting nervous a few days before the presentation, mostly because these were my co-workers that I had to present to. If it would have been a group of individuals at a conference that I'd never see again, that would have been a different story. But, these were my co-workers that I had to see each and every day.
As I got up to give the presentation, my nerves started acting up...I felt my voice start to crack as I began talking. But, I quickly recovered and the rest of the presentation went smoothly. My confidence level really allowed me to get through the presentation, keep an active audience, and even garnered a round of applause at the end! I was shocked.
I've been mulling things over the last day or two, and came to the conclusion that I NEVER would have been able to pull this off a few years ago before my surgery. Not only did I not have the confidence to stand up in front of a crowd that size, I also don't think I could have pulled off the content as effectively.
So, this is just another reason to be happy with the decision that I made to have WLS. Not only have I changed on the outside for the positive, but I've also changed on the inside. What a wonderful feeling...
