Reframing the way we think…

It’s our class at Grafton Correctional Institution! (Old photo but getting photos in prison is tricky…) 

As many of you know, we teach a weekly strings class at GCI. I wanted to share with you all a story from class a couple weeks ago, so buckle up for story time with Lalia once again. :) 

I was sitting in a circle with the upper strings during a sectional last week. We were setting goals for the week and discussing different ways to practice. One of the guys asked a question about performance anxiety. He said that he has no problem playing in front of the other guys in class, or in a group, or even in the chow hall, but when the situation is more intense and serious, he starts to shake. He shared that he wanted to overcome this anxiety and stop his body from reacting so strongly. Before I offered advice, a lot of the other guys shared their thoughts, encouraging words, and stories of how they deal with performance anxiety. One of them said,“I think it would help if you were careful about the words you use. It can be triggering to your anxiety if you talk about a certain situation as being intense or serious. Instead of saying something is an intense situation, what about saying that something is an opportunity for you to share the beautiful music that you enjoy and work so hard on?” Those words struck me. Those words were inspiring to me. I may have my own ways of dealing with my performance anxiety (I’ve been performing for a while now) but I do struggle with anxiety when I speak in front of people. The last time I had to speak in front of a crowd, I remembered the advice of this student. Instead of thinking “Oh no, I’m going to trip over my words, or forget to say something in this situation that feels serious,” I thought to myself “oh wow, I get the opportunity to share stories with new people.” Let me tell you, reframing the situation as my student had suggested helped tremendously.