An Acting Exercise to Boost Confidence

Last night in one of my acting classes, my teacher had all of us do an exercise to connect to emotional life. My teacher had us line up against the wall and told us to walk to one end of the room and back, upon going back, that was your present age. He told us that as we walked through each "year", think of pivotal moments in your life, then walk through them. We had to picture the room we were in during those memories, who was there, what we were wearing, etc., to get us in the memory. I was nervous at first in fear of suddenly bursting into tears while revisiting past trauma—but the exact opposite happened.

As I took each step leading up to 25 (26 next month), I approached each memory with a sense of closure and gratitude. Every little incident of being bullied, family problems, losing a loved one, battling mental illness—they were all met with an unexpected sense of pride. I kept thinking, "Wow, I made it through all of that? And now I'm taking a class I've always wanted to try? I am so incredible." Now, trust me, there are still past moments that bring up real feelings of anger and resentment, but the pride of having gone through it and earning two degrees while learning French made me want to throw my fists in the air.

Once everyone returned to the back wall, my teacher instructed us to act out past moments of either significance, or something dull, like a random memory of raking the yard at your childhood home. I found myself acting out happier or funnier moments, like the first time I tried to drive a car and almost hit a tree; or holding my little sisters and giving them each a kiss on the cheek. After this exercise was done, we had to choose one event to act out, and it had to be something substantial in terms of how it affected us emotionally. I decided to pick a moment when I was crying on the phone to my mom over some douchebag guy; I remember at the moment feeling like I was ugly or not worthy of attention just because this dude wasn't trying to see me. I tried not to laugh while acting it out; I'm so happy I'm not in that place anymore of putting my value on whether or not a man pursued me.

We were then instructed to sit across from another student in class and tell them about a pivotal moment in our lives. My partner and I exchanged stories, then our teacher told us to tell the other person's story to someone else as if it was our own. I found myself relating more and more to my partner's story as I explained it, thinking, "How would I feel if someone had done that to me?" I felt more empathetic, and more apt to making someone else's past my own. Suddenly, my skills as an actor didn't feel nonexistent.

I'm writing about this exercise to encourage you to practice gratitude for having survived the toughest moments of your life. So often we can fall into the state of the victim, and stay there instead of growing from the experience, like by receiving therapy, reading self-help books, journaling, etc. We have all had moments in our lives that made us feel like we wouldn't survive, or never get past. Now look at us—we're here. We lived.

Taking each step through this exercise made me revisit those moments that have made me tougher, stronger, and more resilient. It can still be difficult, of course, reliving those memories—but they are also a reminder of how much I've accomplished since then. I highly recommend you try this exercise, but do so wisely. If there are traumas you haven't fully healed from/received professional help with, don't revisit it; it'll only re-open those wounds and cause mental distress. Start small, and congratulate yourself for having made it through.

We all deserve to pat ourselves on the back for having made it through our toughest battles. Congratulate yourself more often.

Watch the YouTube video for this post here.