Skip to main content

Getting Ready for My Closeup

So many things are on my mind. I don't really know where to start.

The play is tomorrow. I was supposed to sing three songs, but my voice has refused to cooperate. Now I'm singing one. That's cool because I'm really nervous. The thing that hurts me is that my schedule hasn't allowed me to put forth my finest effort. I don't like not being perfect.

What's really funny is that I spend my days teaching children that they don't have to be perfect -- they just have to try.


This is what was on my mind Saturday night. I was a nervous wreck, to say the least. Fortunately, the play went off without a hitch. The audience loved it, and my song went well. Even though I forgot a few of my lines, it was cool.

After everything was said and done, I learned some very important lessons from this situation:

1. When you're under attack, your mind is the battlefield.
If I tell you everything I've ever feared -- not being desirable, not being talented, etc. -- ran across my mind the day and night before, I only say it because it's true. It was absolutely awful. It got so bad that I started not to show up. However...

2. Most times, the thing you fear never happens.I was so afraid that I was going to stink up the stage. In the end, I wasn't the only one who forgot his or her lines.

3. If you make an effort, God will make up the difference.
The song was the hairy part of the situation. Like I said before, I'd been having so much trouble with my voice, the director had cut me from three songs to one. After I spent all day practicing the song I thought I was going to sing, I was asked to do another one. While I would've gone through all manners of panic, God had calmed me down to a point where it just didn't matter. I went over the song in my head and was quite calm. When it came up in the scene, the music that was SUPPOSED to start didn't. I waited for a brief second and started doing the acappella thing. It ended up being some of my finest work.

All in all, it was a good experience -- AND I got paid. I'm thankful because a) I really need the money, and b) my inner performer has been awakened. Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup...

Comments

Great! I'm glad that you were able to overcome that fear and just do it. Fear can be a b!tch at times. I'm glad that you stood up on the inside and ignored fear's false assumptions and the imaginary possibilities that it uses to seduce you to not do or to do something.
It's a good thing that you didn't allow fear to control you. Like I wrote in one of my post... I'm the damn boss. I make the decisions. I refuse to let a feeling that is not even grounded on real possibilities lead and guide me any more. And that's truth!
Peace,
A
MackDiva said…
Angela, you are so right. I'm right there with you, sista! And I'm thankful that you took the time to comment. (smile)

Popular posts from this blog

A New Possibility?

If you've been reading EFTDOAD for any length of time, you've probably noticed that I haven't really talked about a man. By that, I mean a man of my own. What's really sad is that there hasn't been a man in my life for the entire time I've been writing this blog. I hate that. However, things may be looking up for me. One of my good friends hosts a forum in Los Angeles called " Battle of the Sexes ." This monthly event consists of guys and girls submitting questions anonymously to the moderators, with the answers being discussed in an open forum. It can get quite rowdy, and the discussions are always enlightening. For most of us, it's the first time we've really heard what members of the opposite sex think. I've been attending these Battles for a few months now. Even though I'm not a fan of mindless rhetoric, it's cool to be around some single people who can think and put together coherent sentences. The last couple of times I'v

The Five Commandments of Houseguests

It's Sunday night, and I just put one of my girlfriends on the plane. She's a great person, but this weekend wore on me like none other. In her defense, she's in mourning. Her husband just died in September, and she's learning how to live again. They had been together since high school and now he's gone. That being said...there was NO excuse for the way she acted this weekend. Please understand...I'm not perfect. Never have been. And now that I'm 40, I don't feel the need to apologize for it. But NO ONE gets to make me feel inferior in MY house. Absolutely not! My house wasn't exactly in tip-top shape. I work two jobs, sing in the church choir, and try to work out with my trainer twice a week. So my house wasn't really ready for her. Then I realized that my mind wasn't ready for her, either. Even when we were in school, she wasn't the friend I could hang out with every day. More than that, she came with the very mentality th

The Baby...

I heard from The Baby today. The Baby is a young man I met at work. Nice enough guy...he's 29...new to the radio game...and tall and lanky like I like 'em. He showed up at our studios because he was caught in the throes of his format's contract negotiations. When I saw him, I was kinda speechless. Not because he was cute -- he was -- but because I NEVER see other chocolate faces at my job. The conversation we had was one part interesting, one part amusing, but completely charming. Even though my interest in him was purely professional, we exchanged numbers. See, in addition to working as a radio engineer, he also has the inside track to this weekly show I like. For me, that was it. We exchanged a few texts, but nothing major. Then, one day he said that we should hang out. Since I'm always down for an adventure, I accepted. We ended up spending the day at the beach. We had a good time, but there were some definite red flags for me... For one, he didn't tip