I do a lot of public speaking for my job. From presentations to informal networking, being in front of people is a big part of what I do. For most people, public speaking is their greatest fear- even more than death! While I do get nervous from time to time, I feel very lucky not to get that upset about it.
Part of this comes from my years at a theater school called Young Actors Theater (YAT) in Tallahassee. You may have heard of it- Tony Hale, Cheryl Hines, and many others have attended. We did three plays a year, two musicals and one non-musical.
For me, YAT wasn’t about the future at all- it was all about having fun with some of my closest friends, singing, dancing (badly), and having all of the melodramatic fun that comes with being a theater kid. It was about late nights after a show, driving with the windows down and singing at the top of our lungs. It was about auditions and nerves and hope.
What I didn’t realize then was that all of that preparation was teaching me dedication. All the memorization was teaching me organization. All the missed steps were reinforcing that practice and time can make you an expert. And most importantly, all those shows and auditions taught me to lay it all out on the line and be unafraid.
These skills have helped me tremendously as an adult. There is something really special about learning something in a fun way that translates into usable real world skills down the road. I still get choked up when I hear “We’ll Always Be Together” from Grease. I still cannot dance. But I can confidently stand in front of a room and give a presentation. And that is worth celebrating.
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