Conquer fear

[theJokerhahaha13]

This is for all the new performers out there who have problems walking up to random spectators and performing for them.

I will tell you a story, and hopefully, by the end of it, you'll be slightly less scared of performing.


A few months back, I decided to take my skills to school (I had mostly been performing anywhere I went cept' school cause I thought that school was for learning and nothing else, yeah I am a nerd ) and enthrall everyone I came across. Well I did.
The first magic I did was to my closest friends, and they were speechless.

I progressed to complete strangers over time. After a few days of doing magic to normal strangers, I wanted to be known. I wanted people to say as I walked by,"Hey it's that magic dude!"(so I am a bit of and air head sue me) And I knew that if I only did magic for a maximum of 5 people at a time I wasn't gonna go anywhere, so I knew I had to do something, and then the answer came to me in one glorious stroke of inspiration.

The next day, I came to school a bit early and went down to the place where (pardon me if I sound racist, cause I am not in the least bit racist) all of the "bad" black kids hang out. There were only about four of them at first, big, tall, and muscular, you can bet I was terrified. But I gritted my teeth and I performed. By the time I finished the very first trick, three of them were jumping up and down and screaming while the fourth one was running around going, "OH MY GAWD! OH MY GAWD! WHAT THE F@#%! WHAT THE F@#%!"
Within a few minutes their friends had arrived and after a few more minutes, I had a crowd of 20 people around me, hypnotized by my performance.
ALL of them were shocked.
And if I had thought they were entertained before, it was nothing compared with the reaction I recieved from my finale.
And guess what that finale was? STIGMATA

That was in October. To this day, people still recognize me as "magic man"
and I am still freakin people out. I have long gotten rid of my fear of performing and it was because I performed consistently and always tried to perform to complete strangers, rather than friends.

Just perform all the time, and go and perform to strangers, even if you're terrified at the time; the fear will pass.

If you just grit your teeth and do it, you could most likely get a reaction like I got months ago, or better.

GET OUT THERE AND BE A MIRACLE-WORKER!!!

 

[MagicShadow9]

Yes, this is how i got started in performing as well. I was once in a cafeteria during midterm week. I had a study hall that period so i had no midterm, so i waited in the cafeteria. The midterms took 2 and a half hours so you can think that people would be bored. So i walked around, did a few tricks to three tables. When i got to the fourth table, i did 5 and 1 transpo, and after i finished, i looked up and nearly the entire cafeteria was surrounding me! I finished with Laced which absolutely killed them.

However, i think there's something wrong with your desire to be the "Magic guy". Do you really want magic to define you? Do you want people to know you for your magic? Or do you want them to know you for you? What i'm saying is that you should let magic take over what other people think of you. Know when to stop and really get to know the people you're performing for. That's how you make friends; that's how you get dates; that's how you get people to know you.

Now don't get me wrong, being known for magic is great. Just make sure people know you for you as well as your magic.

 

[SKSleighofHand]

Great inspiration story. However, I agreed with MagicShadow9. These new performers who are entering the world of magic should be themselves. In other words, they should not use magic just to get attention or gain popularity in schools. You want to know the people well before you do it. Feel free to disagree with me.

 

[theJokerhahaha13]

.

However, i think there's something wrong with your desire to be the "Magic guy". Do you really want magic to define you? Do you want people to know you for your magic? Or do you want them to know you for you?

Sorry bout that, I guess I did come across as that now that I read my own post again. But I didn't mean it at all like that, in fact, magic is what got me alot of my friends and some of my best friends now. I never meant to come across as letting my magic define me. I perform often, but not, in literal terms, constantly. I always try to be a guy who's easy to get along with and magic is just another one of the things that people think is awesome about me.

(cause alot of people think I am a really calm, friendly guy)