Improv is absolutely my favorite sport.
I went back to class, and oh my gosh. I got my medicine.
I had been a little down in the dumps. In a rut. And after being back in that room, laughing with people and letting whatever happened happen, I realized how much I had missed it.
I had missed the connection.
There were three people in class I had been with before, which I loved. A little of the familiar, a little of the new. Make new friends, keep the old. Some are silver, some are gold.
And all of us there to play.
There is an art to improv, obviously. But the thing I love is that I cannot sit there planning every word. I have to be in the moment. Something comes out of somebody’s mouth, something comes out of mine, and suddenly we are laughing at a thing none of us could have written in advance.
Sometimes you do not even realize you said something funny until everyone else is laughing. Then you start laughing, too.
That connection is everything to me.
One of the guys said he comes for the connection, and I was like, yes. That is exactly it. It feels like a supercharged dose of happiness and freedom and being around people who are willing to meet you wherever the scene goes.
A safe space to be me.
To do the goofy thing. Say the ridiculous thing. Make the face. Try the dance move. All those things you can talk yourself out of because somebody, somewhere, might think you are embarrassing.
Baby, it is improv. We came here for the ridiculous.
There is something so freeing about being in a room where everyone has agreed to participate. Nobody is waiting for you to become a more polished version of yourself before you are allowed to join in.
You get to show up and play.
And I loved how relaxed the whole atmosphere was. Our teacher explained that if we cannot come, or we have to leave early, we do not need to make a whole production of explaining ourselves.
“It’s for funsies.”
Those were his words.
I thought, this is my home. These are my people.
I love having something in my week that exists for the joy of doing it. A room full of people getting together to laugh, let loose, and see what happens.
I left feeling more like myself. Lighter. Connected. So glad I had gone.
Improv, I am so glad you are back.
Let’s make some shit up.
