Friday with Heidi: Karaoke is the medicine for confidence for Wokingham boot campers!

Are you a worry-what-they-might-think type person?

I kind of am, much less so than I used to be. But still a little bit of me goes into defence mode if I need to do something daft or silly or where I am not really in control.

This weekend I was invited to a birthday party. Nothing wrong with that I hear you mutter. And you’d be right.

There was a live band there entertaining us all. And you’d be right, there’s nothing much wrong with that either.

Until I saw that it was actually ‘Bandeoke’ … we, could be the entertainment!

Given that I have managed to avoid karaoke for all of my life I felt fairly sure this was not going to be a game changing evening.

However, the party was for one of our Wokingham Fit Camp clients, and so I thought it would be fun (as you do) to do a stint on the mic with a group of us – call it safety in numbers.

So I rallied some reluctant ladies to join me and we belted out Teenage Dirtbag in a blaze of glory!

Yay! Mission accomplished.

Or was it?

I soon found myself looking at the song list again, I started to feel sorry for the lady from the band trying to rally more people up to the mic and I sowed the seed of wondering whether I’d go up again on my own.

As I was pondering (and sipping only soda and lime I hasten to add, this was not an alcohol fuelled decision) I looked around me at all the clients who I encourage to do new stuff, scary stuff and exciting stuff, and I thought that if I couldn’t do that for me I couldn’t ask them to do it either.

So, song chosen and submitted I waited to be called.

I took the mic, up came the words and the music started.

I belted out a unique version of the Blondie hit One Way or Another with some attitude. And I soon realised that the band behind me was so damn loud that I couldn’t hear me. The audience could hear me, poor souls, but I was clueless as to what it sounded like and it didn’t matter one bit!

I was having such a great time that it made me realise that in future when I think about worrying what others think, I am going to put myself back at that party, with that mic and singing my heart out, because right there at that moment it didn’t matter – because I didn’t know how I sounded, all I know was that I was doing what I wanted to and it was fun!

Incidentally, I’ve had a clip of me on video sent to me. I’ve decided not to look at it. I want my memory of it to be a good one, not picked apart by my critical brain telling me how bad it was.

Since Saturday I’ve taken a new approach to each day. I try to find something that is uncomfortable and challenging.

So far I have presented on a topic outside of my area of expertise, presented myself in a networking event in a different-not-like-me way and stood my ground on an area of principle where I would normally have caved in.

I tell you, karaoke is the medicine of confidence and I encourage you all to give it a go!

(Don’t go clicking…it’s merely a screenshot of me in action – Debbie Harry style!)

We’re into our last few weeks of our Birthday Giveaway.

Join us at any of our camp venues* for 2 weeks no charge — just drop Alison an email on admin@fasttrack-fitcamp.co.uk and she’ll get you started.

Enter our win 12 months of Fit Camp competition — click the link to enter

Join us in January for our annual New Years event — click this link to reserve your seat.

Do let me know what scary stuff you do this week…

*Fit Camp venues in Wokingham, Winnersh, Swallowfield, Mortimer, Henley-on-Thames, Warfield, Twyford and Finchampstead.