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As far back as age 6 or 7, I can recall having a fear of public speaking or performing. During my childhood years, I would experience immense anxiety when performing in piano recitals and also when giving the typical school classroom verbal reports. I would even despair over any "let's go around the class and introduce ourselves" situations (still do). Throughout my adult life, public speaking is quite often required in my work and I find myself grappling with the same anxiety. The physical traits of the fear I experience are light-headedness, nausea, rapid heartbeat, and trembling. While fear is a basic survival mechanism, what exactly is it about public speaking or performing that makes my survival feel threatened? This is a question I've addressed numerous times over the years in an attempt to resolve what is termed as glossophobia. Attempts at understanding this fearful reaction has included a lot of research in how to overcome it. There's always the age-old advice of 'know your material and your audience', 'practice makes perfect', 'relaxation techniques', and even being 'familiar with the presentation environment'. I've taken action to try all of these tips and, although they do help to mask the anxiety, none have truly explained the issue of why the fear presents itself in the first place or even come close to taking it away. They only serve to act as a bandage to cover what I'm coming to understand may be a much deeper seated issue. I read an article online recently that stated "In almost every case...the fear has nothing to do with the speaker’s ability to talk clearly and fluidly or even to feel comfortable in front of a group. It’s usually connected to some other fear or past wound, like a parent’s disapproval, worry that colleagues will think you aren’t polished enough, or concern that you don’t have encyclopedic knowledge about your topic". Now this perspective might be onto something. Can the fear of public speaking be due to past wounds or parental disapproval? If so, these past wounds would have apparently occurred for me when I was quite young, since I recall feeling this anxiety already at the age of 6 or 7. What I do remember of the years of piano lessons doesn't seem severe enough that it would have caused a phobia; unpleasant yes, but not life threatening. I personally don't have much of a memory of my childhood prior to the age of 5, other than a couple of memories that seem more like tidbits leftover from a dream. What if one doesn't remember what those early wounds might have been? How does one address them? I haven't come across any podcasts yet that talk about this issue in particular, but at this early stage there are still a lot of podcasts I haven't heard yet. If anyone knows of any, let me know and I'll give them a top priority in my listening queue. I'd really like to prevail once and for all over this persistent phobia. Perhaps my fogging is so thick that I can't see where to begin. Any advise on what steps to take to begin this process is welcomed.