  I used to be a terrible speaker… I still struggle but I'm much more comfortable. I kind of mumble and talk softly sometimes and can't find the words but I got sick of feeling this way. Not being able to volunteer to go first or ask questions in an audience and lacking confidence in a public setting ate away at me... I decided to do something about it. I started taking improv classes at the beginning of the year and have stuck with it all year and to be honest it’s been life changing experience and a tremendous help. You learn so many lessons you can apply to day to day life. You learn to allow things to unfold and be open-minded and trust your instincts. This translates to less effort in the long run… you are allowing your brain to actually be clear about a decision. You learn about being present with scene partner or partners and trusting strangers to not let you fail. By no means is it always funny and I’m constantly stopping myself from trying to prepare a funny punch line to get a laugh and feel good about a scene then to take a risk and fail and grow from it. But you develop courage… the bolder your risk the funnier the results in most cases and it’s just developing the habits to take those risks that makes it reward... Keegan explains it so perfectly. There’s such a high emotional intelligence that one develops… it’s a completely different art form and it’s so relatable. The skills developed like most things in life take a lot of repetition so if you are able to be patient and work within the structure of the process you’ll see amazing results. This is a kick in the ass reminder I gave myself today... stop worrying if things don’t move fast enough for you right now. I’m reading Bill Bryson’s ‘I’m a Stranger Here Myself’ and in one chapter he talks about the waste of our society. He’s actually hilarious... very dry humor would probably crush it in improv. He talks about how we leave computers on all night because we can’t be bothered to wait the 15 seconds it takes to power up in the morning (granted this was in the '90s but still true). It’s difficult to be patient in this day in age… life is short and we can have most things at the click of a button so why can’t we have fulfillment, careers we love and happiness all right now. The balance we need to find in ourselves is… things aren’t binary… there is no right or wrong way. As long as you know you are investing everything you have (which may vary day to day, week to week, month to month, etc.) then things will work themselves out… trust the process and do something that makes you feel uncomfortable and grow from it.
In the meantime... try an improv class and pretend to be a dog or cow in front of strangers… I swear you will feel like you can run through a wall after. Or want to crawl in a hole… either way you are better off for it. |
