Everyone is unique, but not everyone stands out. When you’re short, you stand out; this is something I noticed early on. No matter what room I walk into, I know that people are looking at me because I’m short. Many people get anxious when they hear that statement. Because of my personality, I love being the center of attention so standing out in a crowd is exciting. I realized that standing out from the group works in your favor because you already have people’s attention. If you can follow up that attention with charisma or any other exciting characteristic such as magic, wittiness, etc., you can win over the crowd fairly easily.
The trouble is becoming comfortable in that type of situation to let your natural abilities shine. A lot of people have stage fright, and when thrown into the spotlight, they freeze. There is no need to beat yourself up over this, but to acknowledge it and slowly start working on it. One way to reach your natural state or the state of flow is to focus on breathing and staying present. I’ve also been practicing a new technique to get rid of fear. You acknowledge the fear and figure out what part of the body you feel the fear in. Treat the fear as if it is its own person. Once you have found it, then simply talk to it. I usually say thank you fear for continually looking over my body and keeping me out of dangerous situations; it’s appreciated. However, I know that pursuing this activity or situation will allow significant growth for you and all the other emotions. By merely talking to your fear, you will feel that feeling in your body decrease significantly. I use this technique when I’m flying, and it works wonders. If it works well for you and this is something that interests you, I just stumbled upon a therapy that uses this technique called IFS therapy. There is an excellent podcast on IFS therapy done by Tim Ferris that I highly recommend checking out. It is episode 492 of the Tim Ferris Show.
Another way to become comfortable standing out is by doing it on purpose. Wear a crazy costume to the supermarket when you go grocery shopping. Or go to the barber and get a hairstyle that you wouldn’t usually get. My dad told me that he would cut his hair whenever he started feeling too comfortable, and I think there is merit to that statement. When you are comfortable, that means you aren’t growing anymore. Always be growing, since your body can’t—a little short pun for you all.
Finally, a great way of getting comfortable with being the star is to go where stars are born, theeeeeeeatre! Go audition for a play! While you most likely won’t get the part, knowing this will make auditioning easier, you will grow your ability to be in the spotlight — literally. My favorite activity to practice standing out, and most recommended, also works on your wittiness. It is also suggested in many self-help books as well. Michael Scott does it, and so should you; I’m talking about improv! Not only will you work on so many critical skills to be entertaining in social environments, but you will also meet so many fun and interesting people! You will even cry from laughter. It is a practice that teaches you to say whatever the first thing is that pops into your head. It gets you out of your head and into the present, which is where all good things happen! Go to Google right now and find an improvisation class. It will be the best thing you did in 2021.
Comment below on what tips or techniques you use to to get comfortable among the giants.
Recommended readings
Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre by Keith Johnstone
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Breath by James Nestory — I’m only a chapter in, but it seems promising.