Let Out Your Inner Child
My husband’s phone buzzed. It was a message from his boss, Jason. The set list for their rock school's anniversary concert was confirmed.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Beastie Boys’ Fight For Your Right on the roster.
My inner child screamed “That’s my song, I want to sing it!”
Before I could think twice, I asked my husband if Jason would let me sing the song of my pre-teen years in front of 200 strangers.
“I don’t know, I’ll ask,” he smiled.
Within minutes we got an enthusiastic yes, but then I immediately regretted it. “What the hell did you just get yourself into, Zeva?” I thought to myself.
But I didn’t give in to that voice. Instead, I spent the next few weeks preparing my performance by shouting, jumping and nailing every bit of Brooklyn affect I had in my DNA.
Days before the concert, I did a run-through for my husband. As I finished the song, breathless, he gently said “you know, you don’t need to overdo it?”
Let’s just say his advice went in one ear, and out the other.
When I got on stage wearing my custom-made Beastie Boys shirt, my heart racing, the crowd going nuts, the spotlight shining on my face and the thermostat all of the sudden on high, there was nothing holding me back. I OVERDID IT BIG TIME!
And guess what? It was one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had in my life.
Where am I going with this,?
In addition to wanting to share this personal triumph with you, I realized there’s more to it than I first understood:
I was a very shy girl growing up. And when Fight For Your Right came out in 1986 I was at the height of my awkward pre-teens. I was chubby, and had a curtain of 80s bangs over my forehead that served as a shield. So when the anthem from that exact period appeared on the set list, I think it was that self-conscious little girl in me that perked up. She finally felt ready be seen, and get her groove on. My performance was a rush, a release, and a reparation. I think I made her extremely proud.
We’re often worried about having the right qualifications, or being legitimate, to say something, or try something new. But just showing up in an enthusiastic, joyful, positive, way, can be the gift that’s needed at that very moment. I made a ton of mistakes on stage, but it didn’t matter. The excitement I communicated was contagious. I even got another gig out of it! Could this be the beginning of my Beastie Boys cover band career? Stay tuned...
The day after my performance I spoke with a friend who signed up to do something she’s always dreamed of doing but was terrified to try: stand-up comedy. She said, “I challenged myself this year to do scary things that I knew I could handle, and I’ve always wanted to try stand-up.” As the words came out of her mouth, I knew she was speaking a truth much larger than her own. I think we’re living in a post-pandemic age where we've learned to discern paralysing fear (aka, we might die if we catch an airborne virus) to I-can-handle-this-kind-of-fear, fear (aka, daring ourselves to do something thrilling and new).
Tying this all together in a neat little bow, what I’m sensing is that we're craving experiences that remind us that we're alive. We want to feel new things. We want to laugh. We want to rejoice. We want to connect. We want vitality. And that might mean we need to move past our manageable fears, and come out wide-eyed and wind-swept, on the other side of it.
So, here’s a little challenge for you. What’s something you’ve always wanted to try that scares you, but that you know you’d have an absolute blast trying? Something that maybe your inner child craves?
Is it singing? Writing sonnets? Tap dancing? Joining a theatre group? Going on a wild trip? Learning a new sport?
Book a free call and let’s discuss what that inner child inside of you is curious to finally try.