Would anyone like this, or am I weird?

What would you do if you didn’t care what anyone thought? If it didn’t have to be good? If you followed what makes you feel alive? If you trusted that was enough?

These are the questions I asked myself when I was planning my creativity workshop last month. I had been running through ideas, thinking about what worked in the past, and I just felt...blah. I started half-planning an event that didn’t sound that fun to me, and then I stopped.

I asked myself what I actually wanted to do. 

At first nothing came to mind. I thought that maybe I was in an uninspired mood. Then a few minutes before getting into bed, a brand new idea popped into my head: 

“I want to sing karaoke. But not regular karaoke, intentional karaoke. Conscious karaoke. Conscious karaoke? Hmm...that might be a good name.” The description spilled out of my head into the notes app on my phone. I felt excited. 

When I woke up the next morning I was a little less sure. Did Conscious Karaoke sound funny in a good way, kinda tongue-in-cheek? Or just weird? Would anyone like it? Would people think I was weird? 

Fortunately, those voices never got too loud. I kept reminding myself that it was OK to just do what I wanted to do, and see what happened. 

And a few weeks later I was in a dimly lit private karaoke room in downtown Oakland with some brave souls. Conscious Karaoke was a reality. It was as fun as I had imagined, and even more deep and healing than I had anticipated. 

I used my 5 step intuitive creativity process as frame for the evening. I guided people to listen inside for what song was calling to them. Everyone discovered something that was just right. 

One woman’s experience was was deeply emotional, and it surprised her. “I’ve never cried and sang at the same time in front of other people before,” she said. She doesn’t identify as a singer, but her “performance” was incredibly moving because it was so real and vulnerable. And it was healing for her.

Someone else chose a song where she could try out expressing anger, and she was fierce! It allowed her to step into parts of herself that she doesn’t normally show, even to herself. We could all feel her power.

As for me? I belted out a Janis Joplin classic and realized that I only knew the chorus, so I had to improvise all of the verses. Not doing something perfectly--in public, no less--is good medicine for me. 

Everyone was so brave. People had moments of self-consciousness -- their inner critic trying to overshadow their expression -- but the space was safe enough for them to lean in and stay present instead of hiding.

If I hadn’t followed that voice inside that was telling me what I really wanted to do, none of these breakthroughs would have happened. And that would be a shame.

Is there anything you’re excited about, but holding back for fear of judgment? Can you make some space today to tune into what you really love, or what you really want to do, and then go and do that? Drop me a line, I’d love to know!

And join my email list if you’d like to know when the next Conscious Karaoke event will happen next. It would be truly great to witness your song emerge.