Defrosting: Or, Pacing Ourselves as We Begin to Gather Again
This past holiday weekend, it was with tears in my eyes that I watched my older daughter, Zoe, reunite with her cousins and grandparents after so much time away, and my toddler, Lucy, experience her first full family gathering. While it was glorious to watch all the cousins run around in our backyard (city folk finally have a yard!) I was also aware of how much overstimulation was happening for some of us.
Lucy & Zoe
It got me thinking - this past year has been all about meeting ourselves where we are: setting goals for who we are right now and being gentle with ourselves if they take longer to get done. And the same case can be made for reuniting with our people. Many of us have been away from each other for almost two years - changing, growing, adapting, coping, working on ourselves, finding new ways to create and gather, and simply surviving. As we defrost from the long quarantine and begin to gather again, let's expect a learning curve as we come together.
I'm wishing you so much time spent with loved ones this holiday season - let your tanks be filled, your hearts energized, and your whole self be nourished by the connections you've been missing. But, please remember to pace yourself and stay attuned to what you need!
Thank You, Mr. Sondheim
I had the honor of meeting Stephen Sondheim twice: first when I was helping to cast Pacific Overtures at The Roundabout Theatre Company in 2004 and again 2 years ago when my husband Marc produced a concert with him and Jason Robert Brown at Town Hall in NYC.
I could go on and on about what a giant we've lost and how he's touched the lives of anyone who has ever been moved by the theatre. But, in light of his passing on Friday, I'm compelled instead, to share how he has shaped me as a coach. It's this lyric, from Sunday in the Park with George, that echoes in my mind so often:
“I chose and my world was shaken, so what? The choice may have been mistaken, the choosing was not.”
Being a creative - and a human! - means committing. It means making a choice in order to make a better choice. My philosophy as a coach is basically this: choose to commit, be in alignment with your values, fail big, and get ready to course correct if and when the choice isn't necessarily the right one. And the magic? Well what if the choice IS the right one? Buckle up for that, too.