I had a revelation today. A lightbulb moment. An epiphany. Whatever you want to call it, I had one. I was role-playing in my counseling class. I had prepared before so it would be as authentic as possible. I was portraying a teenager displaying risky behavior. In order to maintain authenticity, I was channeling a friend of mine who went through the things I discussed with the teacher in the "session." As it pertained to me, it was completely fictional. While this was hard because if it's not real, it is hard to fake a therapy session then. But, somehow I made it work.
My revelation came after the "session" and had no relation whatever to the content of the interaction. It had to do with the situation as a whole.
In acting as someone else, I learned more about myself then, than I have in the past few months.
And I think this quote sums up my revelation: You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. (A.A. Milne)
I haven't really had a problem with public speaking or self-disclosure, but to get up and act, and to act authentically, isn't something I do on a regular basis. It was a side of me that is usually reserved for my bathroom mirror (Oh, don't look at me like that. I know you do it too.)
Something happened in that classroom, something that made me realize that there is more to me than the way I have been.
And to quote... you can either run from it, or... learn from it. (Lion King)
Now the question stands... what do I do?
It's fascinating to me that by acting as someone else you learned about yourself.
ReplyDeleteYou haven't really given us a clue as to what your revelation was, but anytime one learns more themselves it's a very good thing. Good for you.
I think the question is, what will you do? You know what to do, no?