Day 2 in the Storyteller's Gym

Well, I guess we felt clever that we could save money by driving all night from Michigan and going straight to class on Monday morning. I think that decision's consequences finally caught up with me during Tuesday's class because I felt kind of sick on Tuesday afternoon. Not that I felt everybody should know that, but I say that to say this: I felt a total difference Monday vs. Tuesday in class. Monday I felt as though my mind and body were free. Tuesday I felt like I should feel free but instead I felt bogged down. So I kind of went through the motions in class. But I did practice some more stretching at home.

I like the speaking exercises in class because they make me face my fears in speaking head on. The exercises seem to be just on the edge of being simple enough to feel like "Ok, I can do this" but still complex enough to be stumped sometimes (at least for me!). I'm definitely not trying to come up with some spectacular word to impress anyone when I pause for a long time to think of a word. Nope. I'm just trying to think of anything. But it's been a very helpful exercise because we get to re-visit that place of needing to say something on cue over and over again and try to conquer performance anxiety.

I also always only feel encouraged in class by everyone, and I always want to encourage everyone, as well. I think it is a really healthy atmosphere. I know that teachers sometimes see the students that struggle and think the students are just doing their best and that's all they can do. But I've never felt limited by others'  expectations here. I don't feel like there's a glass ceiling in this class, or in advanced, over any of our heads. Sometimes for me the glass ceiling feels kind of low, and I know I put it there most of the time. But this class and our other class challenges me to envision a world with no glass ceiling above my head so that I can grow and improve. So thank you to everyone and to our teacher for that!

P.S. I was re-reading my first sentence in my 3rd paragraph like this, "I aaaaalso aaaaalways ooooonly feel eeeencouraged in class by eeeeveryone." Lots of vowel sounds, haha.