July 13, 2025
Last quarter, I took an acting class. Having been reserved my entire life, this was a decision no one probably would’ve seen coming. I definitely did not anticipate my enrolling in this class.
When I registered, it was for two reasons:
In regards to the first point, I am significantly better at public speaking now than I ever was. Playing a dramatic character on stage makes doing a presentation look like nothing. As for the second point, I had to do my final performance 2-3 weeks early, which went great!
After I had registered for this class, my inner voice was of course telling me not to do it because I could take an ‘easier’ class that I wouldn’t have to be uncomfortable in. Sometime during the week after I signed up for the course, a spot opened up in a totally online, asynchronous course on something related to music. Logically speaking, this would’ve been much less effort. No class meeting times, and no pushing of my comfort zone. I ruminated on whether I should do it or not. I was close to registering for this class, but I ultimately didn’t.
Why not stay comfortable? I could always just do more presentations right? Wouldn’t the async class give me more free time to, I don’t know, study?
Honestly, I felt like I would’ve been running away. I knew that every reason I would come up with would be an excuse. Main takeaway? We tend to trust our own thoughts for no reason other than that they’re our own, and often times we subconsciously value relatively short-term comfort at the cost of long-term growth.