Inspiration on Ice

Eleanor Roosevelt once said: "Do something every day that scares you."

OK, so it's a magnet on the fridge at my apartment, but still inspiring. It's not mine, but every time I go to get something out of the fridge, it helps me stay brave and reminds me that I am here to become a better person. And seeing I love to eat, I am reminded a lot.

I actually thought of that very magnet and the quote when I woke up this morning. A couple days ago in class, my new friend and classmate convinced me to try out for the DePaul television show. It is a new initiative DePaul is starting this year, a short news magazine show that will begin airing once a month. The auditions were this morning and I was ready to chicken out and skip it, using the excuse that I had an interview (for an article I am writing for the Pulse) planned for the same time as the auditions. But because these auditions scared me, I decided it would be the one thing I could do today to honor Mrs. Roosevelt. I rescheduled the interview and headed downtown.

When I got to the auditions, the room was crowded and I almost turned around to leave, but found the courage to fill out the form and wait my turn. When my friend showed up, we practiced the script a few times. Eventually, we both got our turn to shine. I was nervous...

But I didn't do as bad as I thought I would! I took a few deep breaths and read the news with all the oomph I could. It helped that I started a mini conversation about the teleprompter and how I understood the effort it took to operate successfully (which is true, as I learned at ESPN) to try to get my mind off the big task at hand. When I was finished, the professor in charge of the auditions told me that my personality fit in well with a "people on the street" position. I never wanted to be an anchor, I was aiming to be a beat reporter covering sports, so that sounded good to me!

Apparently, results will be communicated via email by next Friday.

Whether I get a position with the show or not, I am proud of myself for trying. It was a step closer to overcoming my fear of the camera, and will help me face the challenging assignments involved in successfully completing and thriving in this program. Now my first media project won't seem so daunting... hopefully! And if I get scared, I can just run to the fridge... for a little inspiration from Eleanor Roosevelt and Ben & Jerry.