Make a toast at a party or other social event.

“The big day finally came. I practiced the speech one last time with a friend in the morning and then put it out of my mind and enjoyed the day’s activities. This alone—the ability to relax and escape my anxiety for a bit—would not have been possible six months ago. Before the reception, I arranged to have my wedding toast be one of the first items on the agenda, so I could be done and enjoy my meal. The moment was just about here. Music was playing and guests were loudly chattering as they took their seats. I tried to run through each paragraph of the speech in my head, but I found that I could not think with all the noise. I could not remember any of it! I quickly stepped outside and pulled out an emergency copy of the speech. I may as well have been looking at a page of Arabic or Chinese, as none of it was registering. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. [...] After five minutes of stalling, I went back in. I somehow felt strangely confident. I folded my speech up and put it away. I decided just to go up there and enjoy it. Whatever happened would be fine. The result? As soon as I picked up the microphone and started speaking, the speech came back to me. But it was not exactly as I had memorized—it was better. I was saying the same thing but with different words, and it seemed more natural and spontaneous. I forgot some small bits but added a few others in. I was relaxed and confident. I would even say I was having a good time.”

“When it came to me actually doing it I was like nope I’m good , but the bride was like oh “xwesside x” wrote a speech last night though . So the coordinator hands me the mic as I’m desperately telling her that I was fine with not doing it. Meanwhile there’s still 100 people staring at me, watching me die inside lol. Anyways I was like screw it he’s my friend and I told her I’d do it for him. Because that’s the kind of person I am. I tried to push through. So it starts off fine, however that’s when time stopped about 5 sentences in. My jokes fell flat, I thought they were solid lol. My hands started visibly shaking uncontrollably and my voice got weird . My Speech felt like it was way too long. I was definitely being recorded. My brain started freezing up and I started that whole overthinking thing which in return made my ability to read what I wrote incredibly hard. I just awkwardly stared at my phone. I Didn’t look up once. So after that mess. I sat down and just slammed that champagne lol. My entire body was shaking for an hour after. I couldn’t control it.”