Act and Laugh

We have all had challenges but sometimes they stress us out or we just laugh them off and calm down afterwards. There is a lot of challenges in life, whether it is big or small we all have them. My challenge is with stress and anxiety, I tend to always get it before big things like everyone else. So it was my junior year and my first high school play as an actress instead of a techie. I was nervous scared I would mess up my lines. I was not as experienced as most of the cast and that intimated me, I did not want to disappoint them. I did not want to disappoint anyone really.

There was many reasons why I felt this way. First of all, I had never truly done it before expect in middle school but when I did tech for Shrek The Musical, I realized that high school plays were on a different level. So I did not know exactly what to except other than there would more people, entrances were different, and more was inspected of our acting. Secondly,  I was also in cross-country so I only went to rehearsal for an hour or less than going to practice. That meant I did not get as much rehearsal time as the rest of the cast. So some things I had to ask about because I missed it because they went over it while I was at practice. And to top it all of, I was supposed to be tech until we were a few weeks in and someone had to move leaving a role empty so I took it kinda on the spot. So that means I even less rehearsal time and time to memorize. So I had that going for me making it a bit stressful. I felt like if I had more time it would be better, but know that I think of it I would still be as nervous and I would get stress out longer because I would have a longer time to put myself down. Sometimes it is all in the head, you are the one who is causing your downfall, but we can also bring ourselves back up.

So it came to the day of the play I was nervous my heart was pondering I was freaking out in my brain. Then one of the veteran cast members started giving high fives to everyone and telling us we will do great. I the got on the stage feeling confident and I remembered most of my lines, but I forgot a couple, luckily people helped me and the scene still went smoothly no big mishaps. I just kept on going and stayed in character. Then I used those feelings to keep me going though the rest of the play. I then kept on saying to myself, “you got this, you got this.” repeating it while breathing in and out while I waited to go in. I went on stage at the right times, and I remember to stay in character although it was very easy to play that role, a teenager who did not want to be in school, I pretty sure the students out there can agree that school is stressful and sometimes you just want to be at home and sleep. It was a fun time and I learned to have fun forget your worries and just do not get to loose that you forgot all of your lines and cues. The nerves help keep me aware so I knew what was going on, it kept me on my toes.

The play ended and I felt a relief and a rush of excitement after I was done. I had two more performances to do, I still had butterflies in my stomach and my heart was pounding but not as much. After The whole play was over and I laugh about saying, “that was not so bad.”  I still get nervous before a play but not as bad now, I mean nobody I know does not get nervous in things like this, but it gets better mostly and you tend to learn how to use that feeling to help you in the long run.

Photo by twiga_swala on Foter.com / CC BY-SA