Entertainment or Inspiration?

A few weeks ago, my husband and I had the opportunity to attend an incredible Cirque Du Soleil show featuring talented dancers.  We were excited for an evening of entertained and to enjoy celebrating some recent achievements.  What we received was much more than expected.   We were not only thoroughly entertained - we were inspired.   The dancers performed with grace and strength in movement and art.  It was completely captivating and beautiful.  We couldn't help but notice how   sculpted their bodies were, which gave us a glimpse into the hours spent behind the scenes.  My husband and I were dancers many years ago and we know that having the strength to move with such grace and precision doesn't just happen, it takes hours of dedication and commitment to make the moves look effortless and magical.  It takes teamwork and harmony to work with the other dancers to make sure each movement is in perfect timing with each other.   It takes trust and dependability to know your team will be there to catch you when you leap in thin air waiting for another dancer to catch you.  It takes respect for each other knowing that each dancer is critical to a successful performance.   And last, but not least, putting yourself out there on a stage for everyone to see takes strength, courage, passion and confidence.

It's the same for each of us in our art, our craft, and our profession.  We all need to put ourselves out there and perform at our optimal levels.  We all need to be dedicated and committed to what we've chosen to do in life.  We all need to have teamwork and harmony with those on our team.  We all need to be trustworthy and dependable to our team.  We all need to respect those on our team and ourselves. 

 

What a difference it would make if we treated our art, our craft, our profession the same way as a Cirque Du Soleil dancer!

 

Have you walked on the wild side lately?

When was the last time that you did something that scared you and forced you to grow? For me that occurred last week. I had a TV interview and although it as only 2 1/2 minutes it couldn't end soon enough!



“You gain strength, courage, and
confidence by every experience in which
you really stop to look fear in the face . . .

Do the thing you think you cannot do.”

~ Eleanor Roosevelt


My colleagues and I were putting on a local speaking event focused on New Year’s Resolutions and one of our news stations was interested in getting the word out to our community.

In one hand was a great opportunity and in the other hand was an overwhelming feeling of fear. If I wanted to realize the opportunity, I had to say yes to something that scared me.

As you can imagine, I thought about making an excuse, (otherwise known as a reason), as to why I wasn't available. I knew this wasn't the right approach; however the temptation was still there. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to justify our actions when we're afraid? The more I thought about it, I realized there was only one right choice and that choice would require me to face my fear and show up.

That doesn't mean the fear went away, it was still alive and well. It meant that I was making the decision to move through the fear. It wasn't easy. It was risky. I even wondered - what if I fail. To overcome the desire to bail, I focused on what I wanted to achieve and went to work. When our dreams and desires are greater than our fear it provides us the courage to take action and face our fears.

I began preparing for the event by getting my thoughts in order and creating my talking points. I reviewed my notes. Then I focused on the reason for the opportunity, which was to help others. So I focused on helping others, I took a deep breath and got through the interview. And guess what? It wasn't as bad as I had feared after all!

So the next time you’ve got an opportunity in front of you, don’t let fear get in the way of walking through the door – even if it’s the door to the TV studio!