During Times of Sadness

Shut up, and sit down. Welcome to Being On Stage, the only podcast that gives you motivation, inspiration, and confidence to be better on stage. No matter how you entertain, sing, dance, band, comedian, public speaking, MC, drag, burlesque, performance art, or street performer, this is the show for you. Hey Rockstars, Reggie Dawson, your host of the show. Welcome back to the Being On Stage podcast. Today's a little rough one. It's been a little bit of a rough weekend here on the home front for the family and everything. Missed a day, missed another day of podcasting. But you know, back at it, gotta get back to it. So yesterday I missed a day, and the reason. Oh man, the reason we missed a day is. I got a call at like 8.30, 7.30 in the morning from my mother about her dog. Her little dog, Duchess. She's a Chihuahua-Jack Russell mix. 14 years old, she'll be 15 in January. And my mom was kind of. she was upset. Something was definitely wrong. So I got in the car. I couldn't really make out what she was saying because she was crying a little bit. And she said she was having a hard time breathing and she wouldn't get up and she wouldn't eat. And this has happened before. You know, she gets a little lethargic sometimes. She's older. And I get over there and this was different. You know, she really wasn't. it wasn't just that she couldn't get up, like she wasn't really responding to anything. And so, you know, we picked her up, wrapped her up in a blanket, called the vet, took her into the vet. And long story short, and I'm not gonna. This is not supposed to be like a super, super sad thing, but we ended up having to put down my mom's dog. And it was heart-wrenching. It's the first animal I've had to put down. The other animals I've had, we've either been forced to give them up to another home or they died naturally or died in their sleep or something like that. And this is the first one that we've had to put down. And I brought this dog home in a shoebox from my friend, gave her to us. And I don't know, this little dog was just so attached to me and my mom and anyone else she pretty much wanted to attack and bite at. And so that made our Saturday, August 17th, kind of, well, very rough. My head was pounding. I took a nap. I ended up missing a podcast. And those of you. You're just joining. Listen, I podcast for performers. I help them turn their performance into an experience for their audience. And part of how I do that is I use personal experiences from the past, the present, business analogies, and sometimes just motivational quotes and things I pick up places. And I share that with you to get you moving and, you know, help you really crush those barriers that stand between you. But, you know, sometimes, you know, we have something that happens in our lives that, well, let's just say it can be heart-wrenching, heartbreaking, tragedy, if you will. Something just happens in your life. And a lot of times it's very easy to get sucked into that. And I think that's where I was yesterday. You know, I was so sucked in to. This event. And I'm like, I'm a huge animal lover, you guys. Like, I see the videos where the dogs greet their owners after being lost for months or years. And, like, those bring a tear to my eye. I'm a softie, all right? Like, I see the videos with the military guys that come back and the dog recognizes them and goes ape sh. You know, goes crazy. Excuse me. And, you know, those types of things. Just, it warms my heart. I love that type of stuff. I see a missing animal, abused animal. And it just crushes me. Like, I cry when I see an animal that's been abused. And, you know, to be there yesterday and to experience that for the first time, it was difficult for me. And I think that this isn't the first time something like this has happened. You know, there's been difficult times in my life previously. Not necessarily a dog, you know, a dog that we had to put down. But, you know, the breakup. You know, something like a. Something like a breakup could be devastating. Something like, you know, your mother's sick in the hospital or, God forbid, a family member dies or comes close to dying even. And a lot of times we can feel like we're so just sucked into that and we can't pull ourselves out of it. And if we do start to pull ourselves out of it, we feel guilty because we feel like, you know, we owe it to that tragedy or to that happening or to that situation to come. to come. And I think that's kind of, I guess, just be in it for a little while. Be depressed and be in a low. And I think instead what a lot of people need to do and do. Actually, a lot of people do it, especially as a performer. It's. This is going to sound terrible. Like, even as I'm thinking about it, I'm like, no matter how this comes out of my mouth, it's going to sound terrible. But let me give my example first. So here I am. I feel like I'm, you know, a little bit of my heart's chipped away and this little dog that, I mean, she's 14 years old. I brought her home in a shoebox. Me and my mother are very close. I've always been around this dog. I've seen this dog once, at least once a week for the past 14 years. And I used to live with this little dog, like, not only just, not just four years ago. So for 10 years, I lived with this dog. And here I am, you know, heart ripped out, lost. I'm over at my mom's house today. There's no little dog. I'm around your feet, annoying you, making you watch your every step. And it's tough. But I figured I have an opportunity here to use this as a lesson in the podcast. And the lesson is, is that you can use the things that happen in your life to fuel your performance. And in some ways, it's therapeutic to get it out in that capacity. And, you know, in my younger days. When I could just hop on stage, no problems, no pain or anything like that. In my younger days, when I, when I performed, you know, weekly or even sometimes twice a week, something would happen in my life. Like, you know, my mom did go into the hospital a couple of times. Or, you know, maybe there was a breakup or even, even someone just really upset me. I would, I would fuel the performance with whatever emotion I was feeling. And that, that's what I would use to communicate with the audience. And that's what I would do. And that's what I would use to connect with them. And a lot of the times, although, yes, it was a very selfish thing to do. But a lot of the times, because of the nature of who we are as performers, because we're creatives and we are known for putting ourselves out there, like the truest, rawest form of who we are gets put on stage in front of the world. And when we have something going on in our life and we put that out on stage and we use that as fuel for the fire, if you will. It's therapeutic for us. It's kind of like it's our way of going to therapy and talking it out with a psychologist or a grief counselor or anything. It's, you know, getting on stage and putting our emotions out there is, it's our coping mechanism with whatever's going on in our life. So, although, yes, it feels selfish and it can feel wrong at times. To use your emotion for your performance or to use your tragedy or your personal situation for a performance. But at the same time, it feels pretty damn good to get this stuff off your chest and out there into the world. It, it really does. And even, even sitting here now, like, talking through this on the podcast and kind of talking through how much I love this little dog. And I'm getting a little choked up, so I apologize. I'm not, I'm not really apologizing, but. If I do. If I drop out or crack on the podcast, that's what I'm apologizing for. But I love this little dog, you know. And as annoying as she was, this little thing that was always around your feet and always trying to get your attention. It's just, she's very jumpy and just jittery. You know, to, to be there in the end and everything like that. One, I'm grateful that she's no longer suffering. Like, don't get me wrong. But, man, the loss you feel thinking, like, just last week. Everything's fine. But being able to talk it out on this podcast is, is, it's helpful. And I, I want you to feel like you can do the same thing with however you put yourself out there. Whether you dance or sing or play an instrument or tell jokes or do magic. You know, you can use the things going on in your life as fuel. And you don't need to feel bad about that because that's your way of coping with it. That's your way of doing it. dealing with life is through self-expression. that's what we are we're we're expressionists and we need to express our feelings and emotions and thoughts on stage and there is nothing wrong with that i appreciate you listening and you know tuning in every time i uh get on this microphone and and yell and scream at you for performing today's not really one of those things it's kind of more of a somber episode a little bit of a so i apologize if you were looking for energetic high high energy reggie today um a little bit on a little bit of a a low right now but i will be back tomorrow um bright and early not really it doesn't really matter what time i'm back listen to the podcast whenever you have a chance to listen to the podcast and not for nothing i gotta put this out there i gotta remind you that you have uh the opportunity to jump on my calendar beingonstage.com slash calendar i'd love to connect with you and help you get through your barriers keeping you from your dreams whatever your next step is that you're facing let me know we'll work out a plan to get through it together thanks again for tuning in let me go on on on about my situation and what's going on and hopefully that lesson something that you can use in your performance as well as uh you know let it be your therapy let your let your show be your be your therapy and keep on shining