I definitely know the feeling. Public speaking was the bane of my existence.

Oddly, though, after years of this crippling discomfort associated with speaking with strangers and in public, someone randomly approached me after class the other day and said that I'm very well-spoken and have a dynamic presence, that she normally tunes out when the professor isn't lecturing but she wound up paying attention when I asked questions.

So that was kind of awesome.