When was the last time you did something for the first time? I first heard that phrase from my speaker buddy, Linda Edgecombe. It really makes you think, doesn’t it?
Well for me it jazzes me up to try new things (grab your copy of The Try Angle – A New Slant on Life on Amazon) but that doesn’t mean I’m not petrified, terrified and pretty much ill en route to the new experience.
And so it was recently when I did two things that caught even me by surprise.
First, I went into a cryo-chamber – 3 minutes of a million degrees below zero (approximately) with only socks, shoes, gloves, mitts and undees on, I can tell you with certainty that my nipples have never had an experience like that! TMI perhaps?
You can view the video on the Your Life, Unlimited Facebook page, if you’d like to see the G-rated cryo experience!
I thought it was the longest three minutes of my life until a few days later when I went for an audition. An audition! For a musical, like a play, musical theatre. Perhaps someone who loves me might have stopped me from doing this but alas I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing, I was too embarrassed.
You see, I don’t know one thing about musical theatre except where to buy my tickets to attend but there was a poster for Mamma Mia and I liked that music and it seemed like a good idea at the time, so I signed up. The director sent me a song to sing, pages of a script to study and set a time for the audition. Geez, I can barely type the word. Audition, ugh.
I didn’t even recognize the song, but thanks to YouTube, Meryl Streep and I sang Slipping through my Fingers day after day after day, in the shower, in the car and in private – always, always in private. I practiced my lines and with all the confidence I could muster and then as directed at 6:50 pm I showed up for my audition – for a musical!
The ten-minute audition was way worse than being in the million-degree below zero cryo-chamber. To say it was awful would not be an exaggeration, well it wasn’t awful, the four people sitting and coordinating the audition were very kind and patient. I was awful. Like awful, awful. Not just a little bit awful but terrible-awful, bad-awful, embarrassing-awful. Never mind ‘When was the last time you did something for the first time?’ how about ‘When was the last time you did something so ridiculously embarrassing?’
I sang accompanied by the pianist but either she was slow or I was fast and the words didn’t match the music. For the script, I literally looked at my feet the entire time. Me, little miss I’m-at-home-on-a-stage, I could not even make eye contact, which apparently is bad when you are supposed to be acting.
Well, I guess I’m only good on stage when I get to sing with Luke the Uke and when I get to decide what I’m saying, not when someone else is telling me what to say.
However, I survived. When the torture was over, the director asked me if I could dance. Lol. Dance? Good Lord, no! I can’t sing, I can’t act and I certainly can’t dance. I’m the reverse of a triple threat.
So what is the point of all this babble? What is the lesson? What is the encouragement for you? What did I come away with?
- A pride that I tried.
- Respect for people who can memorize, sing, act, dance-especially all at once!
- Ummm, I think that’s it.
Well, at least the next time someone asks “What’s new?” I will have a story to tell them! And if you are looking for me, I will be the one in the audience cheering the loudest for those superstars!
At the end of the day, I still think pushing yourself into a beginners mindset regularly is a great way to live Your Life, Unlimited.
