Thank You! No, Thank You!

I wasn't planning to write anything today, for a couple reasons. First of all, I'm behind because of the GoDaddy issues I had over the weekend. Second, I'm suffering from Post-Show Letdown Disorder (PSLD). And third, I'm trying to get through about 77 loads of laundry. But something happened that made me change my mind about writing a blog post, and since the one thing I'm good at in life is improvising, here we are.

I've talked about PSLD before; it's basically the sadness that hits when all the work that goes into a big show is done and there's a huge gaping hole where all the fun and camaraderie and inappropriateness used to be. It hit me today, after yesterday's big long form show, even though I will see everyone who I did that show with sometime in the next few days. Sheesh. It's not like they moved to the moon or have suddenly become appropriate. (As an aside, I just cracked myself up with the thought of Richard B attempting to be appropriate.)

So I was mopey this morning while I did my work and 77 loads of laundry. And then I got an email that changed everything. It literally turned my frown upside down. Yeah. Now I'm that girl. A student who has become a friend took the time to thank me for introducing him to improv and to tell me, completely unsolicitedly, that by teaching improv the way I do, I have a "huge impact on so many other people's lives."

I'm not gonna lie; that made my friggin' day. Sometimes it's easy to get into the mindset that improv is a luxury. Maybe nice to have, but completely unnecessary. But when I remember (or when somebody kindly reminds me) that improv - especially the "improv for life" way we do it at Held2gether - makes life better, then I realize that what I do has value and actually makes the world a better place. I'm not a rocket scientist, I'm not curing cancer... but I'm helping people discover the magic of improv and, through it, the magic that they've locked up inside themselves for a very long time (or forever). It may not be the most important job on the planet, but I'm damn proud of it and so so SOOOO happy when I hear from people that improv for life has changed their lives in the same profound ways it changed mine.

So since it appears to be a thank you kind of day, I want to pay it forward by thanking Darren Held for introducing me to improv and for believing in me and for giving me the opportunity to teach and help others discover their own love of improv. And I want to thank each and every student I've ever had for trusting me (even if it was just a little tiny bit at first) and for being willing to go for it and let improv work its magic on your lives.

I'll be back tomorrow with a less mushy post. In the meantime, yaaaaaaayyyyy!!

By Sonnjea Blackwell