What’s my talent?!?!?
Holy crap…
I have no idea!
I never really thought about it. I know what stuff I like to do and there are certain activities I might be good at, but a “talent”? I play various sports, love to paddle board, I’m learning to play the ukulele, but I don’t know if any of those things count.
This month I was honored to receive an award as one of the top 40 under 40 business professionals for The Charlotte Business Journal. At the award ceremony I was told that each person had to perform a “talent” for 45 seconds.
Insert body starting to sweat here…
Those people that know me and have been around me for years know that I love to dance and have always loved music. I’ll dance in the kitchen while chopping food for dinner, or cut it up on the dance floor at a wedding. That isn’t a “talent” though. This is me, just being me and moving to the tunes. When I thought about it more, I realized what my real talent is.
My true talent is that I am ok being Court. Simply put, I am ok waking up every day and being the 100% unfiltered version of the real me.
In my journey of writing my book Blue Goat and looking each day to challenge myself to continue to learn who I am and what that means, I have found out so much. I found out that for me the real magic happens when I step out of the shadows of fear and into the life I want to be living.
So, as the day approached for the big event, I decided for my talent I was just going to be me.
I was going to go up on a stage in front of a theater full of strangers, business professionals, C-level executives and even a few of my clients. I was simply going to step into the spotlight with all the eyes on me, and just be Court. I danced to the Jackson 5’s old song “I Want You Back” using some old school moves and just making it up as I went. I gyrated around the stage moving my hips and shaking my butt not thinking about the people watching in the crowd below.
I shared the video on social media. Then something amazing happened.
People watched the video and started to react to it. Strangers messaged me that they watched it numerous times. I know they weren’t watching because of my moves, but I honestly believe it was something else.
The real magic was the fact that I was dancing in front of hundreds of people, just like I would dance in front of the mirror alone at home. I was 100% me, without holding anything back. I simply showed up and danced like no one was watching. Since I shared the video I’ve received messages from people all over the country. Saying “I loved your dance!” “That made my day!” “Hilarious!” “So fun, can’t stop watching!” Each day it seems to get another 1,000 or so views on my LinkedIn profile alone.
So why this video? There are literally millions of dance videos of people far more talented than me online right now.
Why do people like this one?
I’ve been thinking about all of the feedback and I can only come up with one answer.
A guy stepped into the spotlight in front of a room full of strangers and wasn’t worried about anything else other than being himself.
All too often we are living the lives we think they are supposed to be living, or we are holding back because of fear, or worry about how others will perceive us.
This 45 seconds reminded me of when the magic really happens.
When we aren’t afraid of stepping into the spotlight of our life and just being ourselves. That is truly the greatest gift you can ever give yourself or the world.
Just being you.
I hope my ridiculous dance gives you a little extra courage to truly dance like no one is watching, and more importantly dance however the hell you want to when they are.
You are going to make someone else’s day by just being you.
***If you want to see the video you can check out my Instagram at @court_creeden, LinkedIn, or Blue Goat Life on Facebook.
Just dance!!!