My freshman year of high school, I didn’t have many friends. I was a new student in a school where everyone already knew each other and I felt completely out of place.
I’d signed up for the track team, but after having to go through physical therapy for my knees, I could no longer participate in the practices.
But as the year went on and I started to make friends, one of them started talking to me about improv club.
She told me all about the crazy games they always did and how much fun it was not only to participate but just to watch. So after completing some physical therapy exercises for the day, I went to go find out what it was about.
I sauntered into the room, both knees wrapped in ice bags -- it’s really hard to bend your knees when the joint is covered in plastic.
And I sat down and started watching the action onstage. One-Five-One was just as interesting as Veronika had told me it was, and Sit-Stand-Kneel just as hilarious.
And then the leader of improv looked at me and called out “Knees” and I was invited onto stage to participate in Late to Work. I worked with a member of the group to act out through charades certain circumstances that another member had to guess. And I had a lot of fun.
When my mom picked me up from school that day, she expected to hear all about the exercises I’d done and the miles I’d run with my newly improved knees, but she definitely did not expect to hear about the new club I’d gone to and how much I’d enjoyed it.
I got home and told everyone that would listen how much fun improv was. I taught my neighbors all of the improv games I remembered and forced them to participate in them with me.
My sophomore year, the club did not run, and my junior and senior years, I participated in more clubs than I had time for. At one point in my senior year, I was supposed to be at four different clubs at the same time. And I was the president of one of them and the co captain of another. Improv got pushed to the back burner-- there was no competition at the end and it wasn’t an honor society.
And then I got to college.
At the activities fair at my college orientation, I saw an improv booth. I walked over to get more information simply because it was something I’d done in high school.
And when college officially started, I decided to attend the improv show that one of the improv groups was putting on.
As soon as they started talking, I remembered how much I missed improv.
It wasn’t just about spending time with friends or going to improv when my other more important clubs weren’t meeting, it was about how much I absolutely enjoyed it and what it did for me. It was about being able to get up there on stage and be as loud and obnoxious as I wanted. It was about letting loose completely, no standards to conform to, just ultimate freedom to do and say whatever came to mind.
It was relaxing, being onstage. It always cleared my mind of everything but the moment I was in. I had to think in the moment; I had no time to dwell on the homework assignment stressing me out.
I sat through the show grinning ear to ear, so happy to be around the thing I loved so much after so long away.
My whole life, I’ve known people that cry when they’re happy and I could never begin to understand that until that night, watching these people having so much fun the way I do.
I enjoyed the show so much that I stayed around for the second one, starting a half hour after the first one ended.
This time, they wanted volunteers from the audience.
My friends, seeing how eager I was pointed at me and cheered. And it worked. I was invited onstage to help along one of the games.
And it was in that moment I realized I would do anything to go back to doing what I loved.
It is so important to follow your passions because they are the one thing that you’ll always love, no matter where in the world you are.
Seeing an improv show really helped make this new place feel like home.
