got their makeup right? Was the costume done up correctly? What if they forgot their lines? Would
they remember their cues?
The more people talked about their anxiety, the more edgy everyone became. The worries
bounced from one person to another—like a baton being passed in a relay race—until the whole of
the backstage area seemed to be buzzing with tension and worry.
Tom was onstage early, at first performing his nonspoken role in the background with several
other guys around the same age. They slipped into their roles and did what they had done at rehearsal
over and over again. When, suddenly, Tom heard his cue, the lights were bright in his eyes; he
couldn’t see the audience but knew there were hundreds of people out there all watching him. The
words that had flowed so easily standing in front of a mirror in his bedroom didn’t want to come, and
when they did he found himself hurrying into them. He tried to slow down his thoughts and his
words but, thinking about doing that, he suddenly realized he had missed a sentence. What should
he do? Go back and start from the beginning? Try and add the sentence in where he was, or just go
on as though nothing had happened?
He chose to carry on, but when he finished and left the stage his hands felt sweaty and his heart
was racing. He didn’t think about what he had achieved—performing his first solo part in a major
production. Instead he was beating himself up for the sentence that he’d missed.
The audience, of course, didn’t know he had missed a sentence. They made no gasps of horror,
sounds of rebuke, or peals of laughter at his mistake. His fellow actors had just carried on as though
nothing had happened and, after the play had finished, they were so busy talking about their own
performances that no one commented on Tom’s missed sentence—apart from his drama teacher.
“Well done,” she said. “Acting is a like learning to ride a bike. You may not get it perfect the first
time. You may fall off a few times, yet each time you get back on you do it better. Your performance
may not have been perfect but, for your first time, it was great.”
Tom felt reassured. It seemed like his teacher was saying it is okay to learn. You don’t have to be
perfect, especially when you start something new.
Tom caught the look of his face in a mirror—the face that he’d seen many times as he’d rehearsed
those lines, over and over again. It was smiling back at him with a sense of satisfaction, for there was
much with which to be satisfied. First, he’d been selected for the production. Second, he’d worked
and worked to prepare himself. Third, he’d performed in front of the biggest audience he’d ever faced
in his young life. Finally, he’d learned that it was okay to be good without having to be perfect.
He looked at his face smiling back at him and raised two hands with his thumbs up.
STORY 19
BE YOURSELFTherapeutic Characteristics
Problems Addressed
■ Lack of self-worth
■ Self-denigration
■ Comparing yourself to others76 Healing Stories, Teaching Stories