So that one time I did a Storyslam competition, that a colleague put me up to. I had no idea what it even was, just that ‘Mike when you go to happy hour with the team we are going to go from there to the Oberon Theater in Boston’ …you may not even get picked don’t worry odds are it’s a nice ‘storytelling competition’ to watch.
I love storytelling.
I loathe low or no-prep situations.
My teammates couldn’t care less. ‘You are better when you don’t prep’, was one or more teammates’ commentary.
Well, that’s a lie. I live for some preps. I am an overprepper, if you have read any of my posts. When you are not as smart as everyone else, you struggle with a persistent phobia (agoraphobia) and you need to consistently live outside your comfort zone and operate and succeed or fail, thusly over prepping is my jam.
I fly to Boston on said fateful morning. We’ll call her Kathy, she said you’ll be great, the theme is Gifted, you have 5 mins, the story has to be true and include you, it also had a ping at 30secs to time. I learned later, that this Moth thing is a whole thing around storytelling competitions all over the US and has been around for decades. Here is the cal entry for the place
The morning of this terror event, Kathy says all the salespeople confidence things. The day is busy and there is a lot to do, then take the team to happy hour on Moody Street, a Mexican place if memory serves.
Anyway, The happy hour is ending and Kathy asks if anyone wants to come watch my trainwreck hit a dumpster fire. Sonny decided to come along he’s a fan of mine train wrecking and such. Schadenfreude I guess.
So we go, thankfully Sonny’s phone battery dies, and there are no real pics of the storytelling. Kathy puts me and another friend of hers names in the bag. They pick 10 names, 5 and intermission, and then 5 more.
Whaddaya knows, my name and her friend’s name are picked, I put my drink down and proceeded to sweat through my shirt, my hands had no color in my face. I honestly had instant butterflies, nausea, a hot face, and a core historic response that was uncomfortably familiar.
Now keep in mind at this point I have been presenting, and pitching for many years, and orderly preps and repetition of my recipe for managing my disquieting anxiety, stress, and fear.
So the first four Storyslam competitors tell their 5-minute stories about their version of gifted. I had one more sip of whatever Kathy got us from the bar. I honestly was white hot with a burning in my stomach. (PS I did not realize til I got there it was a scored competition. I thought it would be like a beatnik poet thing turtlenecks and berets)
Intermission, DefCon 1… I use the restroom to do one of my stolen from Amy Cuddy techniques… yup the power pose in the mirror. Tried to breathe walking to the stage. Shitless, is how scared I am in the moment.
I walked to the mic.
I could feel the tremor in my voice as I started… After about a minute I could feel my story beginning to tell itself, as if I was a witness to my own unfolding story. For the first time that day, and many days after that. The fear itself was the thing overwhelming. The story in this case was part of my life.
I wanted to be a detective like my dad, but he effectively made that not possible ‘And you’ll go to college, if after you still want to get into law enforcement fine, but not in this city (Philly)’ It was this denial that I was ‘Gifted’ this life, even this moment here at this mic, thanks, Dad. Wow super dusty in here.
The net effect of a story is to be able to communicate more than a message. It’s a sacred moment of sharing, and being vulnerable, shared experiences make the value of prepping even more precious to me. Hope they do the same for you and the stories you tell.
Also surprisingly I came in 2nd place in that competition. 9.7/10 if I remember correctly.
What did I learn that day;
- Your friends and colleagues may know your value more than you do.
- Your comfort zone will kill you.
- Experiences story-told can entertain, educate, and humanize a shared set of fears, and beliefs that ruin stereotypes and surface rhetoric.
- Do more googling when your friends sign you up for sht. 🙂
Good luck and thanks for reading. #keepmoving #keepstorytelling