Karaoke Tourist

KaraokeTourist CourtesyPixabay#nextpeak

She was an accomplished singer, in a church group. She played the piano with skill and feeling. But what she wanted to do is sing Karaoke. Something different. An Elvis fan, that's whose song she'd choose.

She just didn't know when or where. Surely not with her prim choir friends. Certainly not where if she was terrible, she'd have to wear her humiliation.

Then one day, she who loved road trips found her evening in a small town just steps from her motel. This was where a tourist could sing karaoke, she thought. She'd never see these people again, strangers can be so much kinder than those who have an expectation of you.

The image is one thing and the human being is another. ...

It's very hard to live up to an image. Elvis Presley

Not a drinker. But she did gulp down her red wine that day. Liquid courage, they call it. In the dim bar with just a handful of early patrons she made her way to the stage. Not her usual stage.

They clapped and cheered and sang along. A middle aged tourist belting out Elvis. How likely would they be to see this again? She caught them up in her courage and enthusiasm. Yes, she did!

She and Elvis and a bunch of strangers.

When she relayed her story to me, her eyes beamed with the pleasure of the memory. Why was it easier, I asked, to sing karaoke far away from home than in front of your friends?

Sheryl Sandberg in Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead says that many of us are hesitant to raise our hands, to stand out, to ask the important questions. Why do we behave as if we are the secondary characters in our own Life?

I was only a tourist passing through, she replied. Her bravery however, has translated itself into a renewed gusto for life. We are all just passing through Life. Why wait to be brave?

Let's not just be a tourist in our own Life, let's pick up that mike and sing! (Click to Tweet)

Find Yourself, Find Your Bliss. (Click to Tweet)