Not so recently my husband of 21 years and I decided to shake it up and choose a new activity to share instead of dinner or a movie. We love comedy shows so we decided to sign up for an improv class at Stevie Ray’s Comedy Club.
To give you a little perspective, I wouldn’t call myself extremely funny or extroverted especially when comparing myself to my gregarious spouse or some of the other members of the class. Regardless it felt like a big leap for both of us. Not only did we grow in our ability to communicate, to think quickly on our feet, and to be flexible and spontaneous. We learned how to apply these new skills in our daily lives. We learned to be comfortable being uncomfortable and vulnerable. We learned quickly that we were all in the same boat . We dropped our guard and when we were willing to do that we were more real and had more fun!
When I would tell people of our newest endeavor they would usually say “Oh, I could never do that!” It wasn’t until the show that I understood where the fear originated.
The last requirement was a show performed by the class, using our new found skills, before an audience of invited family and friends. My spouse and I agreed to perform and we also agreed NOT to invite anyone to the performance for fear of humiliation.
Pre show jitters aside we thoroughly enjoyed our performance and the celebration of each persons individual growth and that of the class as a whole. What we quickly realized was our disappointment for not having the courage to ask our friends and family to celebrate with us. We robbed them of some laughter and we robbed ourselves of the opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments with them.
My realization was that most people said they couldn’t for fear of judgment by themselves or by others. I likely would have asked others had I realized earlier that if we don’t judge ourselves how can others judge us?
So whether you are celebrating your graduation from college, having a birthday or that new promotion be sure to have a party or do something special for you to commemorate your growth. Celebrating brings the energy forward for continued growth and is just plain FUN!
