"I want to try an edible to see if it can help me get over my terrible fear of public speaking. I need to do this for my new job (speaking in team meetings). Are there any edibles that will help be relax, but not make me stoned so I cannot work or talk to groups?"
Fear of public speaking is a form of performance anxiety that falls under the umbrella of social anxiety. It is very common, and the severity can range from mild discomfort to debilitating. Fortunately, several therapeutic options are available that can help make the necessity of public speaking more tolerable.
My first recommendation is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which may be undergone privately with a psychologist or in a group environment. The basic principle is that you learn to recognize your body’s responses to anxiety, the thought processes associated, and techniques for managing the stress. Frequent exposure to the uncomfortable situations is necessary to help alleviate the severity of anxiety, whereas avoidance only makes the anxiety worse.
For some patients, medical therapy (usually in the form of SSRIs/SNRIs/Beta blockers/Benzodiazepines) in conjunction with CBT and/or exposure is necessary. Many patients have also found cannabis therapy to be helpful in coping with various forms of social anxiety.
For performance, you want to be at your best cognitively, so I would discourage using any product that is high in THC. Cannabidiol, CBD, has some mild sedative / relaxing effects without being intoxicating. For this reason, and because most CBD products tend to be low in THC, a CBD medicinal may be helpful as supplemental therapy for performance anxiety.
dredmunds
I think you must be aware, you cannot do any form of cannabis on-the-job, technically it’s illegal but I think this is a situation that will be corrected with just a few simple practices.
I had a tremendous fear of public speaking stemming from being put in school one year early and my fear was based on not being good enough.
As I grew up, I realized I was wearing a lot of ugly overcoats that didn’t belong to me. I received overcoats from my mom, worry and fear, my dad gave me anger and sarcasm, my brothers and my teachers gave me ugly overcoats that I wasn’t worthy, capable or good enough. So you can imagine, as children we are overwhelmed with all the criticism even if it’s well intended, it leaves us wearing ugly overcoats that don’t belong to us.
When I became an adult I decided to give back all the ugly overcoats because I didn’t like wearing them, they didn’t look good on me, I was only wearing them because I thought I was supposed to but I really didn’t even like myself with them on and that is when I became aware, I was born a naked happy little baby without the overcoats. I have you delivered babies for 45 years and I have yet to ever deliver a baby with ugly overcoats on, they are naked happy little babies and then we hand them to families who proceed to give them all their ugly family overcoats. All I really needed to do was take the overcoats off and give them back so I proceeded to take off the coats. I found that naked happy little girl wanting someone to be there for her so I made a commitment to always be there for her for the rest of my life. Now, I don’t let that little girl take care of adult situations but I do let her come out and play when I want to have fun.
Overcoming fear of speaking is a process. First, you must be certain you were well prepared for the subject you are going to present because that’s the biggest area of fear is not being well-prepared and making a goof. Second, present your speech many times before you get in front of a group so you know what you’re going to say because there’s also fear around forgetting what you’re going to say. Typically, fear prompts us to do a great job in preparation but it still stands a chance of undermining you when you get up to present unless you ask your little child to step aside and let the adult you takeover.
I do think that taking high CBD, low THC twice a day for at least a couple weeks before you do a presentation will help you get in touch with a calm space inside you and just knowing where that calm space is, helps you to go there when you need to be in that space.
So, joining a group where you are able to practice in a team may be the best thing for you. This is the reason many people join Toastmasters to gain experience in public speaking.
Their are many Public speaking courses available for free online as podcasts and are valuable to hear.
I have done self hypnosis and it is beneficial but takes time to learn and a lot of practice.
Do start your super high CBD cannabis tincture twice daily for calming. I am not a big fan of edibles since anything that drops into the stomach is subject to the liver breaking down immediately but lots of people do claim the edible CBD helps, but I do not know of studies yet so these are simply anecdotal stories. Do not wait until the night before or the day of the presentation to start your medicine. Get a good night sleep the night prior to any presentation and eat an hour or so before your presentation so you do not have to worry about passing out from hunger.
In other words, Take good care of the little child inside you and you should do well.
We are all spirits having a human experience, so admit your fear upfront to yourself but remember to take a deep breath and pause before you start.
I also find Passionflower in a liposomal delivery form is excellent just before a performance because it has a profoundly calming effect without any high and it is effective within 10 minutes.
So I did several small talks in small groups before I had to do a 20 minute presentation before approximately 150 people at a conference in Vegas and it came off quite well.
I do believe Eckhart Tolle’s book, "The Power of Now" has helped me greatly to stay in present moment.
It is really exciting to face the things we fear the most and overcome those fears.
Good luck, this should be a really fun journey and if you allow yourself, you may experience a lot of good laughs and find other people will be gracious toward you and admire you for your courage.
drolson
