The Press Release

When I studied musical theatre in Berlin, I knew quite fast that it was the perfect cover-up for what I was really doing. What I was really doing wasn’t going for the perfect jazz hands or becoming a skilled performer who could be cast in Les Misérables or Jesus Christ Superstar when it rolls back into town.

My true raison d’etre was to study life and develop my mind, soul and body. By reading 100s of theatre scripts, where life intensifies for the stage, I tried to get the shortcut to wisdom and the answer to my big questions.

I felt so alone with it. I became even more “different” than I had already felt throughout my life. When I said what I was really up to people looked at me like I had lost the plot and I felt even more lonely and that scared me. Nobody wants to be a freak.

So, I found a way to communicate what I’m up to in a socially acceptable, safe kind of way. And I call it the Press Release. When you launch a product, book or service, you send out an official statement about it to the press who can then publicise and shout that over the mountains.

I had a Press Release for the dreaded “What are you doing these days?” question well-meaning friends and family members love to ask no matter how insecure one might feel about that.

“I’m studying Musical theatre”. Or “I’m living in NY these days studying with the best acting, singing and dancing teachers I can source”. The reaction was generally “wow!” It sounds cool, we can all agree that’s something. I am doing “something right.”

I found the press release version is a great way for sensitive individuals who are in the midst of a deeper process to communicate safely. Why would you give your whole process to the world when you’re not ready to share it?

I’ll tell you why. Because living authentically and sharing deeply separates the wheat from the chaff. It’s the bravest thing you can do, and it will give you deep, rich and intimate connections to people you actually want in your life. The real light shines when we dare to expose the darkness.

The press release is an awesome tool, but we don’t live through the newspaper. Meet me and let me show you the off-the-record me.