Advice, please :)

[Jillian]

I don't know if this belongs here, so I won't be surprised if it has to move...

I belong to my local MOPS group, and I enjoy it immensely. This month we will have a speaker talking about how to "unleash the super nanny in yourself". I don't believe I will be enjoying that topic so much, since I am working to release any super nanny tendencies I have! It will be an open discussion, and I know there will be so much I want to say.

I'm struggling with this, I had so many thoughts laying in bed tonight and I felt like I needed to come back down and post here about it. Although, now that I'm here all those particular thoughts are gone...

I know I will want to say something, but don't know what. I'm not very good at retaining information to regurgitate. I read something and it registers, my opinion is formed by it (one way or another) and I release it from my brain, lol.

Anyone else ever been in a situation like this? I feel like it will be me vs. everyone else in the room! (I also have social anxiety and don't fare well in crowds, so that won't be helping my case...stammering all over the place with whatever thought I manage to present!)

Anyway, I don't know exactly what I'm looking for, or what question I'm asking...but needed to put it out there! Thanks for listening :)

[lmgeenw]

I think you must be my twin sister. :) I am exactly the same way and I am this situation often. It is good that you can think about it now though and predict what might happen and what you might say. Of course this isnt helping you sleep.
the only thing that sometimes help me is to discuss it with my husband and kind of sort out my thoughts and have him help me find ways to explain or say things in a better way. He is very extroverted and can think quick on his feet. I am obviously the exact opposite. I actually have a piece of paper sitting in front of me that I wrote notes on about what I want to say someone I need to call tomorrow. I discussed it with my husband before he went to bed and was afraid I would forget it by tomorrow. We are in this co-op with a all new-age, non-Christian people. I am trying to be a good witness without loosing my mind and have been put in a lot of circumstances lately where I have to stand up for what I believe without sounded like a close-minded, uncooperative dork. Long story. Anyway, not sure if you have anyone you can discuss this with in person, but if you do, it might help.

[SansSouci]

Do you really feel like you should say something? Sometimes I realize I'm in a room with people who think completely opposite of me, and nothing I say is going to sway anybody. In that sort of situation, I will say something along the line of "I disagree with that." or "Not everybody does it that way." or "There are other ways of approaching that, too." and if nobody even acknowledges what I said I'll normally find some way to leave the conversation (oops, I hear someone calling me!).

If you really do feel like you should say something, have a few ideas jotted down on paper. I do that often, even when I'm making a phone call to a friend - if I want to remember to hit on key points.

If my mom's club was hosting a lecture on a subject I didn't think I'd be interested in or would pertain to me or if I thought it would be opposite from my thinking, I wouldn't even attend... not out of hostility, but simply b/c it's not worth wasting my time on.

Anyways, good luck to you. I pray that you will be led to speak specific thoughts clearly, if you so choose.

love,
Elizabeth