What do you do if you mess up on stage?

When we say we mess up on stage, there a few things that come up for us, but the main thing is the emotion we have. And what emotion is that - fear.

Fear comes up in many ways. This can range from apprehension, to anxiety, all the way through to terror.

But lets go a little bit deeper. What is the fear, where does it come from?

Lets try a little exercise:

(1) Close your eyes and imagine you have just messed up on stage.

(2) Notice the feelings that are coming up for you - this is going to be some level of fear, such as those listed above, or even others such as dread.

(3) Get in touch with that feeling that’s coming up

(4) Notice the thoughts that are coming up for you related to the feeling (write them down or do this whole process while recording yourself and say the thoughts out loud)

Look at what you wrote down. What are the thoughts that are coming up for you:

I cant do this; I’ve messed up; I’ve just made a fool of myself; What are others going to think etc

Its these thoughts that are causing feeling of wondering what happens when you mess up.

Ask yourself, if you didn’t have these thoughts, would the feeling be there?

And if the fear feeling wasn’t there, what could you do? What would happen if you did mess up?

compose yourself; wind it in to your performance; create it as part of the magic that happens while you are on stage…..possibilities are endless,

Until next time,