Recently, my colleague and I conducted two workshops on the same topic, over two days. I'm the one that need to lead and presenting while my colleague is supporting from technical perspective because she had more experience on that.

And surprisingly, the thing I remember most wasn't the workshop itself. It was how I felt before, during and after it. Because if you had asked me a few years ago how I felt about presenting in front of people, I would probably say:

“Nervous.”

Very nervous, actually. Even when I knew my topic, I would still overthink.

What if I forget what I want to say?

What if someone asks me something I don't know?

What if people don't understand my explanation?

What if I mess up?

Sometimes, the presentation itself wasn't even the difficult part. It was everything happening inside my head before I started. But this week was different. When I knew I had to conduct the workshop, I wasn't thinking about how nervous I was. I was thinking about the session.

What should I explain first?

How can I make this easier for them to understand?

What examples should I give?

How can I make the workshop more engaging?

And somewhere in between preparing my slides and getting ready for the session, I realised:

I was actually excited to do it.

Excited.

Not nervous.

And that made me stop and think.

So, what changed?

I don't think I suddenly became a naturally confident person. I think I simply had more opportunities to practice. Over the years, I've attended countless meetings, discussions, presentations and workshops.

I've had to explain things to people, I've had to answer questions, I've had moments where I didn't know the answer. I've probably stumbled over my words more times than I can remember.

But every time I did it, I learned something. And eventually, something that once felt uncomfortable started feeling normal.

I stopped waiting to feel confident.

I used to think I needed to feel confident before I could present well. Now I realise it's probably the other way around.

You become confident because you keep doing the thing you're afraid of.

You do it.

You survive it.

You learn from it.

You do it again.

And slowly, your brain starts telling you:

“Hey, we've done this before. We can do this.”

That's what happened to me.

Repetition really helps.

This week's workshops reminded me of this too. I conducted the same topic on two different days.

The first session helped me understand what worked, what could be explained better and where people might have questions.So when the second session came, I felt more comfortable.

I knew the flow.

I knew my content.

I knew what to expect.

And that familiarity made a huge difference.

Sometimes, we think we're not confident enough when actually, we just haven't had enough practice yet.

I also learned that I don't have to know everything.

This one took me some time to accept. When you're presenting, especially at work, it's easy to feel like you need to have the perfect answer to every question.

But you don't. You can say:

"I'm not sure about that. Let me check and get back to you."

And that's okay.

Being confident doesn't mean knowing everything.

Sometimes, confidence is simply being comfortable enough to say “I don't know yet.”

And maybe the biggest change?

I stopped focusing so much on myself. Before, I was thinking:

Am I nervous?

Do I look nervous?

Am I speaking properly?

What are people thinking about me?

Now, I'm more focused on the people in the room.

Did they understand?

Was the session useful?

Did I explain it clearly?

That small shift changed the way I approached presenting.

It became less about me being judged and more about me helping people understand something.

And honestly, I enjoy that.

A lot.

I'm proud of myself.

Not because I conducted two workshops. Not because I think I'm better than anyone else.

I'm proud because I'm better than the woman I used to be. The woman who used to feel nervous before presenting. The woman who overthought every little thing. The woman who sometimes doubted whether she was good enough.

She's still part of me.

But she has grown.

And I think that's something worth celebrating.

We often measure career growth through promotions, salary increases, job titles and bigger responsibilities. But sometimes, growth looks completely different. Sometimes it's finally speaking up in a meeting. Sometimes it's confidently sharing your opinion. Sometimes it's leading a discussion.

Sometimes it's standing in front of a room full of people and realising…

“Wait. I'm actually enjoying this.”

And maybe that's the kind of progress we don't talk about enough.

To the woman who still gets nervous presenting...

You don't have to become the most confident person in the room. You don't have to be perfect.

You don't have to know everything.And you definitely don't have to compare yourself with the person next to you.

Just keep showing up.

Keep practising.

Keep learning.

One day, you might look back and realise that the thing that once made you nervous has become something you genuinely enjoy. And when that happens, I hope you stop for a moment and give yourself some credit.

Because maybe you didn't become better than everyone else.

You simply became better than the version of yourself you used to be.

And honestly?

That's something to be proud of. ❤️