To be brave…

To Be Brave

“There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid.” L. Frank Baum

I’m a storyteller and musician. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that every time a performer stands up in front of an audience there is not some sense of foreboding. Granted, for the most part, there is no danger involved in telling stories or singing to adults or children in public; but fears and anxieties do exist. The fears usually fall into the categories of forgetting a part of the song or story, audience distractions, weak participation, or a bad review. I’ve never performed, whether it be to a crowd or even to an individual, where I didn’t have some fear inside of me that said, “This might not work out for you today.” 

In spite of that fear, I go forward and perform. Do I make mistakes?… Yes. Does my audience always participate as I want?… No. Are there distractions?… Lots of times. But I haven’t quit yet.

In my opinion, to claim to have no fear demonstrates a lack of involvement and caring. To be so confident that you are going to do everything correctly and be a star is just plain ego. And be assured the audience gets that. 

Imagine a performance where the teller stands up, looks out above the audience and just says, “Well, you know, once upon a time, yada, yada, yada and they all lived happily ever after. Right?” That’s confidence. No fear there. The teller knows everything, he’s done it time and time again. And the audience always loves him, after all, they clapped at the end. Maybe not.

Now imagine a performer who thinks about those fears, acknowledges them and continues to perform, no matter how many times they’ve performed the same story, by standing in front of that audience, knowing that they might mess up and they might not get the reaction they want; that’s bravery. The teller loses themself in the story once they begin and lets the fear guide their telling rather than inhibit it. That’s bravery. “Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a teller of tales. He looked out at the people, focused on a single face and became the story, not the teller.”  And so the tale begins. 

Bravery doesn’t come from being self-assured and fearless. It comes from knowing what you fear and letting it remind you to do the best you can despite those fears. It acknowledges that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. It allows you to try new things and become what you are meant to be. 

Brave.