Good Morning, my friends. I hope everyone had an awesome week. This week’s post will discuss my working to overcome one of my biggest “fears”, Karaoke stage fright! It might sound silly, but this is probably my last serious anxiety hurdle. When I was young I had stage fright in almost any situation. I worked very hard to get past it and am now comfortable in front of groups doing almost anything, except signing. I will get into this topic a bit more in the post. The post will also include my workout schedule for the upcoming week. So to kick off the new week on the positive, this is The Workout of the Week. This is The Sing Karaoke at the Party Workout.
A Friend’s B-Day Party
Last night I attend a birthday party for a friend of mine. It was a fun event at a cool venue. Her family rented out part of the Eagles Club in Bloomington. There was delicious food, a live band, a dance floor, and then karaoke after the band. The party was a great time.
I even got my chicken-arse up and sang a couple of karaoke songs before the night was over!
Stage Fright
Growing up I had some serious stage fright in my early teens.
Part of it was going through some awkward phases as a kid.
Part of it was that we moved quite a bit when I was in school.
Part of it was I was going through those awkward kid phases at the same we were moving around!
These things made me more introverted in school and made me very nervous whenever I would do public speaking, or anything really in front of a crowd, besides sports. My 7th-grade year of school was a big culture shock.
Exercising, playing sports, and getting fitter helped me overcome a lot of awkwardness. After I got rid of the 13-year-old-crackly-voice, built on some muscle, hit my growth spurt, and slimmed down a bit in my 8th-grade year I didn’t get picked on quite as much.
Speech classes in high school helped a lot with public speaking. I worked hard on my speeches and overcame my anxiety in front of groups, and started learning that it’s natural to be nervous in front of crowds, but with practice, the nerves go away. I learned that if I practice the speeches I deliver them with confidence. Confidence is a key part of public speaking.
Singing and Music
I have always loved music and some of my earliest memories are of singing along with my parent’s records as a kid.
Yes, I said records! Yes, I know, I am “old”. I turned 40 a couple of weeks ago! You can read all about it on The Forty Workout. Now, where was I…
Oh yeah, singing along to records! Probably starting at about five years old, I would sit in our basement for hours listening to every track of my parents’ records; memorizing the songs and signing with the music. That is where my love of music started.
I took piano lessons as a kid for a couple of years, but I hated them. It was all boring songs out of a boring lesson book. It was a lot of music theory, which I didn’t care about at all. I just wanted to play stuff like what I heard on the radio. Because I didn’t like lessons, I didn’t practice much.
I wish I had known what Tabs were back then! Thanks, Wiki!
So I have always loved singing and music but never had much training, besides a few half-hearted years of piano lessons that I barely remember.
Because I don’t have any musical training or experience, I have always been nervous singing in front of people.
Impressions
I used to always practice voice impressions as a kid. Spending hours in front of the mirror, I would practice doing different impressions of famous people. Eventually, I started to be good at making my voice sound like other people’s (I think).
I practiced singing impressions and became good at what I call “mimicking” singers like Elvis, Garth Brooks, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash. I also loved the harmonizing groups like the Temptations or Boyz II Men and would try to practice all the verses mimicking the singer and their tone.
For Some Reason…
For some reason, after all my life of loving and singing with music, I get like super stage fright when it comes to the idea of singing karaoke. It’s totally illogical. It’s just karaoke and no one is really paying that much attention anyways!
I have been out during karaoke many times. I have actually only sung karaoke in public four or five times. The thought of going out for karaoke makes me a little bit anxious.
Do Things That Scare You
Sometimes in life, you got to do things that scare you a little! When we face our fears, we can learn to overcome them. We can learn they are pretty silly sometimes! My experience is that gradual exposure to things that scare me is a great way to overcome them without getting overwhelmed.
Setting small attainable goals is my method. #LPSAGs
Last Night
Last night, I almost didn’t go to my friend’s party because I knew there was going to be karaoke, and I knew I would want to sing, but would also be super nervous about it.
I did go to the party and did sing karaoke. I sang Friends In Low Places by Garth Brooks, sang a duet song with a friend, Picture by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, and harmonized with friends signing on to several other songs.
It sounds small, but last night I overcame my stage fright for the night.
Aaand with that, on to the Workout Schedule.
The Workout Schedule
The Daily Warmup and 7k Steps A Day
I have been working on my daily warmup routine and the count up to doing it for 100 days. I have added 10 days to the count since the last post. The count is at 42 days of doing the routine.
I will also be trying to hit my goal of about 7,000 steps a day, most days this coming week. #7kstepsaday
Spin Bike and Yoga
On Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday this week I will be riding along with a spin bike video from GCN like the one below. I will also be continuing the Yoga With Adriene 30 days of Yoga series. I am on the Day 9 video this week.
RBFTBs and Heavy (Sand)Bag Tabatas
On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday I will be doing my double RBFTBs and double heavy bag burners. \
Wrap it up, Dude!
There you have it my friends. Thanks so much for reading. Thanks to Yoga with Adriene and Global Cycling Network for the videos to work along with! If you have any fears like stage fright, like me, it can be hard to get past. However, breaking down the issue and setting small goals to overcome gradually can be a good method to get past whatever it might be. That’s all I got this week. Until next time, be happy and healthy. Be the hero or heroine in your story.
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