Bear with me here as I’m going to get a little cheesy and write poorly.

It’s been no secret if you know me that I’ve been travelling more than normal lately and extra travel is something that I’m going to have to work around this year. I’m currently in the middle of a 9 out of 11 straight days travelling binge that leaves me home Friday and Saturday before hitting the road again on Sunday for 6 more days of being on the road.

This adds stress to my life, it makes grad school much harder, I don’t sleep well in other places, I miss my wife, my dog, my friends, and it causes me to miss practice and shows for teams that I have a commitment to. While home for these days I happened to have improv shows scheduled, and even that stresses me out at times like this as it is another thing I’m scheduled to do.

THEN I HIT THE STAGE

For 20-30 minutes on stage there is no stress, there is no worry, and there is no concern about outside stressful things. There simply is no time for it. It is something I don’t get from other hobbies, and it is a freeing feeling that I can’t easily recreate. When watching TV, hanging out at a bar, or doing anything else I may be doing in my free time, my mind is always still running and thinking about 100 things at once, especially in extra stressful times. How often do you find yourself doing an enjoyable activity but thinking about something else like work, school, a problem you’re having? Maybe it’s just me, but it happens plenty.

On stage tonight I played the innards of a burrito, a father, and an angry bird among other things. When I was playing those things I wasn’t thinking about anything besides what is happening at that moment on stage, what are my teammates saying and doing, and how does that effect me.

Eventually the show ends, the team bows, we talk about the show, and I drive home thinking about how there are not many hours left before I hit the road again, or the homework I have due on Sunday. But for that time on stage, when the only way to be successful is to operate with a totally empty head space, I am reminded that this is not an added stress of something else I’m scheduled to do. Instead I get a sliver of time where nothing is due, there are no responsibilities, and the knowledge that whatever happens on stage will be gone forever as soon as the show ends. The only way to enjoy something like that is to be 100% there in that moment, and being there feels good.