I actually really enjoy presenting things in front of people.

Exhibit A: Red Cup Culture. For 3 years, I have willingly placed myself in front of 20-30 freshman (and multiple presentations) to talk about alcohol. Explaining things like liver metabolism and BAC. Not daunted at all by this. I even presented with a group to a BACCHUS Conference last year how RCC works to fellow peer educators from across the country.

Exhibit B: Public speaking 101. I took this class and learned about how to create a presentation, and I did 3 presentations in front of the class. I bored them with things like Tylenol and aspirin overdoses, but I did it nonetheless!

A couple of weeks ago, I did a presentation on PTSD and substance abuse. I stood in front of the class, confident in my topic. Then I couldn’t breathe. And halfway through I lost my train of thought and stood there saying “uhmmm” for about 30 seconds. What happened?!

So tomorrow, we have solo presentations for Therapeutics on a diabetes case. This presentation isn’t done in front of a huge group of people–it’s much worse. We have to present in front of 2-3 professors who sit there and grade us.

I guess the main difference is that in most presentation, your audience will mostly sit and stare at you and take it. Maybe ask a few questions. In Therapeutics, however, they will make you think that everything you’ve ever learned is wrong. That your mere existence on this planet is a horrible mistake that should be corrected.

Maybe not THAT bad, but you will wonder why you picked the therapy you did and doubt yourself on every subsequent decision you make for the next 48 hours after the presentation. Can’t wait.