3 Fast Things
I’ve been a bit low because of some personal dramas happening in my life. What I believe is helping me (aside from chatting to my ol’ Da) is cold morning showers. I don’t do it for long, and technically the shower part where I actually clean myself is warm. But at the very end of the process, I just switch it to cold, stand still like a naked statue, and repeat an internal mantra: “it’s just cold water, it’s just cold water”. When I’m confident every pore has shrunk and my nipples could cut glass, I get out and move on with my day.
On that note, I’m pretty keen to do an ice bath some time soon. But heck, winter is coming. The sun isn’t awake at 6am anymore. Time to turn off daylight savings, thanks. I think I’d prefer to do an ice bath in summer. That’s not cheating, right? The temperature of the bath is the same no matter the season. I guess the thing that changes is whether or not your nose feels like it’s about to get frost bite.
I’m trying to give up stand-up comedy so I can focus on things with higher effort/reward for me right now. But it’s almost impossible because I networked so hard and effectively the last eight months, I keep getting offered gigs I can’t say no to. First world probs.
1 Slow Thing: I have low enthusiasm in life
I have low enthusiasm. It’s a personality trait. I just don’t seem to be able to express much energy and passion as I get about the world. I think this limits my performance in comedy. Not just performance, but writing of jokes. Because I’m not only unenthused externally—internally I’m like a goddamn sloth.
I think I have passion and enthusiasm about a lot of people and things, but actually expressing it makes me feel like a 300kg grizzly waking up from hibernation. Honestly, sometimes people want me to express more enthusiasm towards something and the pressure on my mind makes me feel like I’m a baby being ripped out of a warm womb too early. It’s a lot of effort.
Oh, except towards my nephews and niece. Exhibit A:
Enthusiasm: This is a trait defined by such phrases as “has a lot of fun” and “laughs a lot,” and so it is not surprising that the human golden retrievers who score high in enthusiasm would also report leading more enjoyable lives. This aspect of personality falls under extroversion, and as such, it also has to do with how you relate to others: enthusiastic people tend to make friends easily, and they warm up quickly to others. They also tend to get carried away by their excitement.
As with most things, there’s a spectrum and some people sit on the total opposite end to me. I was at my brother’s wedding on the weekend and my sister-in-law’s side of the family are prosperous in enthusiasm. They seem to harvest it and hand it down generation to generation. Looking you straight in the eye, always something big and friendly to say into your earholes. Their bright eyes and bushy tails made for a real hoedown recovery party in my dad’s shed.
Whereas I noticed our side of the family has this party trick where we’ll be all polite and reserved and low in enthusiasm for the first part of a party, but once we get a few under our belt, we whip out all our enthusiasm and emotions and vulnerabilities in the form of table dancing and hakas and jolly good memories.
During my childhood I rarely felt the need or desire to get real loud and proud about anything. I think I went through an enthusiasm phase in junior high school when I found I could get people to like me by being weird and silly. But once I passed that and discovered alcohol, it was really only under the influence that I felt “alive”.
So now that I’m older and wiser and care more about sleeping than cool kids, I’m back at my baseline state of boring bitch unless I’m using the old family party trick.
Anyhoo, just thoughts. There’s definitely a trend spreading in the world where more people are questioning their relationship with alcohol and I’m definitely interested in seeing if the trend suits me.
Watch
This week’s video: My interview with author, Summer Land. Something a little different this week.
I’ve talked to a lot of comedians because that’s where my creative juices were flowing, but now I’m interested in learning how to author a book alongside a comedian. With Summer having a handful of ghostwriting jobs in the bag, plus having published two of her own books, she was a valuable and delightful resource to get on my pod.
I reveal a little about my book writing project in this interview, so if you’re interested, check it out. I’m working with David Boyle, from I’m Quitting Alcohol on this project.
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This Friday (tonight!) in Newtown - The Laugh Inn.
Recommendation
Watch: My boss posted this video on quitting alcohol today, which slides in nicely to the theme of this write-up I think. Plus, do you like the videos thumbnail? I made it!