An introvert by nature, the thought of being in front of a large group of people is pretty overwhelming. The moments leading up to the experience are fraught with anxieties, and fears. I’m afraid I’ll say the wrong things. I worry people won’t laugh when they should. I’m scared of being made a fool.

I was asked to lead an ice breaker/game this evening at our MOPS event, which meant talking (and ad-libbing) in front of a large crowd for about a half an hour. Good bye, Comfort Zone!

I was talking in the car this afternoon with C, who was home on a sick day. I told her I was nervous about talking in front of everyone and if she had any advice and she gave me three tips.

1- Imagine everyone in the audience is wearing underwear on their heads.

2- Pretend there is no one in the audience.

3. Don’t be afraid to mess up.

While I’m not sure I’d subscribe to 1 & 2, but I think the 3rd option is some pretty solid advice. So once I got up there, that’s what I did. Of course, anticipation is usually the worst part of anxiety, so once on stage, it settled down pretty quick and it ended up being a pretty fun experience. I’m constantly surprised about the confidence I find at the other side of my comfort zone. 🙂

As for my girl, she was under the weather last night and ended up taking a sick day today. I was up most of the night, so after we dropped the boys off this morning, we came back to the house and I took a nice long nap while C watched TV and ate everything in sight. She was completely fine all day and this afternoon we went on a short date to Starbucks and Walmart before picking up the boys. I really enjoyed my time with her. We practiced math as I drank my coffee and she ate her cake pop. I don’t get a ton of one on one time with my kids, so I try to soak it up when I can!