🎤 Would you feel dejected if performing to an audience of three? 🎸
. . . Not if you had my husband Michael's mindset + 📆 Summer Pivot Office Hours Pop-up
Hi Friends,
On Saturday night, my husband and I checked out a local pub, and it just so happened that the singer-songwriter playing the opening set that night was Lebanese, like Michael. When we walked in, he was already at the bar, clad in a red flannel shirt and jeans, grabbing a drink before heading on stage.
“Hi!! We’re so excited to see you play!” Michael said, wrapping him in a bear hug.
“Amazing!” the musician replied, before cocking his head and furrowing his brows, confused by the sudden surge of affection. “Do . . . do I know you?”
“No, but we’re both Lebanese!” Michael replied in Arabic. “We’re practically brothers!”
Lebanon is a country one-fortieth the size of California, so in a way, this is not untrue.
Awkward greetings behind us, Michael and I settled into our seats. Once the musician started strumming, his sound instantly swept me away; very Noah Kahan, one of my favorites. His voice had perfect pitch, his lyrics were passionate and sensitive, and his “tuning talks” between songs were funny, self-deprecating, and endearing.
But I couldn’t help scanning the room, feeling discouraged for him.
As an author and keynote speaker, often nervous about impressing audiences of any size, I could only imagine how I’d feel if I had marketed an event in New York City and only three people showed up—two of them potential stalkers (:::checks mirror:::).
Well, I can imagine it. I would probably take it personally, even knowing I shouldn’t. I would assume there was something wrong with me, that I was never going to make it, that maybe I should give up on my dream. Compare-and-despair would envelop me like a rain-filled cloud, snuffing out any sparks of joy as I pictured other more possessing musicians playing under the big lights at Madison Square Garden.
Concerned for him (aka over-empathizing and projecting my petty fears), I elbowed Michael. Covering my mouth while speaking through closed teeth so the musician couldn’t see my lips moving while performing, I whispered under my breath:
“Wouldn’t you be discouraged if there were only three people in the audience?”
“Yeah, but it’s the right three people,” Michael replied.
Of course, he was right. After the set, we invited the musician to our table and bought him a celebratory beer. Once one of Michael’s friends showed up, we invited them both back to our house, a short ten-minute walk away. After shooting the breeze in our living room for a bit, we all took Ryder with us up the block for steaming-hot, hit-the-spot smash burgers at 10 p.m., before sending them both home, together.
The next night, Michael invited Ab-Do, the musician, to dinner with another crew of Lebanese friends. Afterward, the two of them walked and talked for four hours through Central Park. An audience of three turned into an instant bestie of one.
Ten years ago next month, I met Michael walking in opposite directions down a tiny New York City street, twenty-five feet from my house. I also said yes to grabbing a burger after bumping into him and his friend again fifteen minutes later.
It doesn’t matter how many people are in the room—virtual or otherwise. It only takes one. The right serendipitous one, but you won’t always know from first glance.
You will only know by taking a chance, over and over, by being vulnerable, by putting yourself and your creative work out there, and by saying yes to however many slices of humble pie (and burgers) life asks of you along the way. 🍔
🎧 Related Podcast Episodes
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Love that, story, Jenny. And what a fun photo of you two! :)
I couldn’t love this story any more ✨