Keep Showing UP
“90% of life is showing up.” -- Woody Allen
I want to write something, but I can't. It’s one of those days when the best thing I can do is to just show up to the page. And the hardest part is being alright with that.
I have a wise friend who says just because I am having a C-minus day doesn't mean I can't do B-minus work. So here I am, giving you my best B-minus blog.
I have missed out on a lot of opportunities in my career because I didn’t know how to show up when I wasn’t doing something perfectly. But today is a different day, and I am different person.
Sometimes it still takes a lot for me to show up to do my regular improv when I am having a shitty day, but when I do, things get better in my day. I just need to keep reminding myself that this is true.
There used to be a slogan for the Illiniois State Lottery that said, “You can’t win if you don't play,” and though I am not endorsing gambling, I think it apply to all artists. We can't win if we don't show up.
I don’t know about you, but I never need excuses to quit. My head is full of them: “You aren’t talented,” “You are wasting your time,” “You’re not as good as______.”
What I do need are mantras to help me keep going, and a great one is, “Be kind to yourself, be gentle on yourself.”
Great art comes from a combination of vulnerability (which comes from expressing yourself) and lots of failure.
Vulnerability leads to great things for you and your audiences. It leads to truth and connection and makes people less lonely and afraid. That’s what your art does for people. That is one of our tools, and you can use that tool to either build yourself up or tear yourself down. Tearing myself down comes easily to me, but today I want to build myself up by being proud of myself for being vulnerable and expressing myself, which is a hard thing to do.
Today, I am giving myself credit for showing up to the page, and just by forcing myself to do it, I already feel better. I feel less alone and afraid.
Thank you for reading this blog, and don't forget to give yourself credit for showing up. And don't worry about the other 10%.
You are more than any grade. I don’t know why we (some of us, anyway) have the habit of judging ourselves in unproductive ways, even when we know they’re unproductive. Some of it may be that we inadvertently move the goalposts on ourselves.
Thanks for upsetting the instagram cart and posting how it’s really going and feeling. It’s inspiring.
Thanks Doug my pleasure upsetting the instragram cart.
Thanks for showing up!!
Thanks Michael, always enjoy working with you and talking with you. You keep teaching me a lot.
My pleasure. I always enjoy working with you and learning from you.