Stepping out of my comfort zone.

While I may appear confident, I am not good at stepping out of my comfort zone. I am not one of the do something that scares you types. So this week, I surprised even myself when I came up with a new work idea, which does scare me.

Public speaking.

Several years ago, I started to have problems with my voice. It began to crackle and creak as if I had a sore throat. I strained to speak at times, particularly when on the telephone. I didn’t have a sore throat.

To cut a long story short, after numerous tests, six weeks of speech therapy, and a trip to Nottingham to a hospital speech laboratory, I was told I had something called spasmodic dysphonia, which is a neurological condition that causes the muscles that generate speech to go into spasm.

An ENT consultant told me that as it worsened, I’d probably have to have botox injected into my throat muscles to alleviate the problem. The effect of the injections only lasts for 3 months.

I asked if it could get better, and the consultant told me no.

Oh great. Years of people thinking I was 40 years older than I was, particularly on the phone, The voice would fluctuate…