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How do you like my post shower hair? Is it nice? So, if you're fairly new to playing
the guitar or ukulele or performing or anything like that, there's a really good chance that
you're afraid to do it in front of people. And it really doesn't matter whether you're
at an open mic or just in front of your friends, it's still kind of weird. This is a kind of
social fear, it's irrational at this point and you should really just squash it immediately.
It's kind of a left over, like a mental byproduct of how our ancestors lived because we used
to live in small tribes of people and you pretty much only knew the people in your tribe
and maybe some people from neighboring tribes but we lived in small groups spread out. We
didn't really know a whole lot of people. So if your ancestors got rejected within their
social tribe, it could be really bad for them. They might not find a mate or worse; they
might get booted out of the tribe. You, on the other hand, have probably met more people
at your last job or at school last year, than your ancestors did in their entire lives.
Unfortunately for us, as a species we haven't really out evolved that trait yet. It still
lingers with us and messes us up. Because at this point, who cares? Who cares if someone
doesn't like you? Who cares if you do something and it pisses someone off and that person
just writes you off. That's one person. I don't know about you, but I live in a big
city and there's hundreds of thousands of people here. If one person doesn't like me,
I don't care, I'll find more people. So that kind of social fear is useless to us now.
It used to protect us from getting booted out of our tribes and becoming lion food and
now it just kind of holds us back from doing things we really want to do. What's going
to happen? You play at an open mic, you fumble through a few songs, maybe you don't do so
well, maybe you completely bomb. But chances are you're not going to see any of those people
ever again. Doesn't matter. And if by some freak chance you happen to run into one of
those people that was at that performance where you bombed they're probably not going
to remember you anyway. Unless you were really, really bad. In which case, maybe you'll have
a funny interaction but chances are they'll give you credit for just getting up there
and trying. We're all human and we all have the same kind of fears. So they know it takes
guts just to get up there and try something. Usually when I get that butterfly feeling
in my stomach and I'm nervous about something, I regard that as an indicator of something
I should do. The last bunch of times I felt that was when I jumped off of a waterfall
into a big pool of water at a national park and it was awesome, it was the best feeling
ever. Or when I went skydiving or when I told my girlfriend that I loved her for the first
time. Those are the times you get that feeling and it's usually something you should just
do aside from maybe the skydiving part. Those are the moments that help you grow as a person
and that's when you should put yourself out there because it's not going to be as bad
as you think it is worst case scenario and chances are something really good will happen
whether it's the feeling you get or the budding of a new relationship. Maybe those were bad
examples, they sound dangerous but it happens! It happens when I go up to play on stage somewhere,
it especially happens when I playing by myself with just me and my guitar because I'm all
alone up there and there are people watching and it's perfectly normal to feel nervous
because you're putting yourself out there and you're not sure what kind of reaction
you'll get. It's scary but it's necessary because it helps you expand your comfort zone.
So play in public! Go up there at open mic night, sing at the karaoke bar or just bust
out the guitar or the ukulele or whatever in front of your friends and just have good
time! You'll definitely be glad that you did. So thanks for watching, I really hope you
get out there and play in front of people. Worst case scenario: you just got one gig
under your belt, you just got a little more experience than you did before. Nothing bad
will happen, I promise it'll be okay. Just get up there and try it, seriously it's going
to feel really good! So if you liked this video, please give it a like. Subscribe to
keep up with my videos and ummm.... DRUM SOLO!