As I continue to balance college and speaking, I notice many similarities between the teens I speak to and the students I attend class with.
A few weeks ago, I audited a speech-based class entitled Interpretive Literature. Essentially, the class consists of a set of 5 oral performances that are drawn from popular literary texts. Though the instructor selects the text, it is the student’s job to take the written work and attach their own emphasis and emotion to it, bringing it to life.
Like in any class, the first day’s lesson ended with a question and answer section. Immediately, one hand from the front row shot upward.
“Professor, are we acting as ourselves or the character in the text?”
Apparently, three other students in the class had the same question.
“The choice is yours, but I find that most students prefer to act as the characters in the reading.”
She was completely relieved.
As we exited class, the girl turned to me to talk about the upcoming performances. Though the majority of our conversation involved what texts the teacher had chosen for us, she made one thing very clear.
“I would much rather act as someone else in front of a group of strangers than myself.”
I think that all too often we try to find ways to prevent others from seeing who we really are. Whether we’re talking to complete strangers or close friends, we sometimes try to hide our true sense of self and replace it with someone or something that will be given a stamp of approval.
If you find a few minutes of free time this week, I encourage you to personally take a step out from behind the curtain.
-Make yourself vulnerable at school or work.
-Take a small risk that would usually cause you to shy away.
-Choose to go about your week with an added sense of self-confidence.
By being proud of who we are and expressing it to those around us, we can discover cool things about ourselves that we never even knew existed.