Saturday, September 8, 2012

Let 'Er Rip: Don't Fear Looking Foolish

Like the soft winds that hint of a distant storm, the happy notes of an indistinct song wafted over me. I swung on my porch swing and smiled. Someone's happy. Then the strains intensified, and I knew. The Singer approached. Without seeing her, I pictured the young woman: MP3 player to her ear, playing music only she could hear. The singer belted out the lyrics in a manner that would have made Paula Abdul cringe, let alone Simon Cowell. The song intensified, and she wailed like a cow giving breach birth to co-joined calves.

You'd never catch me doing that. The more's the pity.

The world would be a better place if we just cut lose and enjoyed ourselves. Because I refuse to look the fool, I lost out on many things in life:

  1. I refused to learn the guitar in high school because I felt silly carrying the huge instrument. It wasn't until my late thirties that I dared picked up the bassoon (talk about the aforementioned cow).
  2. I never sing if I can be heard--and it certainly brings me down in church and other places. I used to love it, and singing is a cathartic activity. I have nothing on The Singer--except a loss of joy.
  3. In my twenties, I refused to run because I thought I looked silly. Turns out I'm a fast runner. Today, I love it--but it took me twenty years to overcome my fear of looking foolish, and to discover the joys of a runner's high.
How have you allowed the fear of looking foolish hinder you.

2 comments:

  1. You brought a smile to my face thinking of the passing person belting out their tune. I'm too chicken to do it outside, but inside while doing dishes, I will sing for all my heart's worth and then cringe wondering if the people upstairs can hear me. 8-)

    But we do need to cut loose and enjoy ourselves,especially when worshiping our Creator. No one could accuse me of singing, but I'm covered under "make a joyful noise." *-)

    It's also fun, when you have the gym to yourself, to jog on the treadmill and sing "My God is so Big!" and do the matching hand motions as you jog along. It's amazing how much more fun your workout is when you do it that way. 8-)

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    1. Brenda, you made me laugh. I would sing "My God is So Big" to my Sunday school kids, and always loved it. I can't imagine doing it on the treadmill!

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