Learning to let go of my agenda in improv was difficult... but once I learned to do it there, the skill spilled over into real life and I became much better at not being the boss of everyone and everything. Now I can let other people be in charge, and I'm happy to do what's asked of me. I can enjoy other people making the plans, so I can just show up and be. Of course, I still like to be in charge of some stuff from time to time. I mean, you can't just leave a night of drunken dancing to chance.
Wait, wait. I have a point, I promise! My point is that the Toastmasters group I belong to is, um, somewhat less organized than I would like.
Okay, I'll be honest. It's utter friggin' chaos.
Today I'm the Toastmaster of the meeting, which means I basically run the meeting. Only because of factors that you wouldn't believe if I told you (running the gamut from illness to overwork to birds), half of the people who were supposed to have roles at the meeting have bailed - including the speakers!
Naturally, I took a couple of minutes (hours) to be pissed and bitchy. After all, I put a lot of work and effort into preparing for my part, and now it's all jacked up because of people who don't stick with their commitments. Argh.
But then I ate some breakfast and I thought about it. And I decided this is really a perfect opportunity for me to improvise. Sure, there's an actual meeting agenda and I have certain things I'm supposed to do during the meeting, but I can still let go of my agenda and stop being mad at people and just make the meeting as fun as possible.
That's a huge improvement for me, btw. Before improv, I would've taken a couple of weeks (months) to be pissed and bitchy.
Wanna learn to go with the flow and be unflappable in the face of life's constant challenges? Sign up for a H2G Improv class. You'll have the time of your life!
By Sonnjea Blackwell
