You're an idiot, really.

No, you seriously are.  And I say that with all the love intended.  When I was in high school, I developed a knack for being somewhat of a performer.  I sang, I danced and it was a great experience.  When I graduated high school, I expected that that part of my life was over and it was time to move on...was I ever wrong!  I'm not even talking about performance acting, but 'life' acting, as it were.  There's a reason Shakespeare said the famous quote, "All the world's a stage and all the men and women are merely players."  We all put on a show everyday of our lives, whether or not you choose to recognize it.  No one is totally 100% genuine these days.  From the time you awaken in the morning, you take the persona that you have created from yourself, dress up in a 'costume', take a stop outside on 'stage' and act in you production of your life.  Why do we do it?  What does being fake provide to you?  Like I said at the beginning, you're an idiot.....a spazz, moron, etc.  The sooner you learn that, the better off and freer you'll feel about yourself.

People tend to create fake personas for a multitude of reasons: being accepted to certain societal groups, fear of rejection, etc.  Did you notice something bout those examples?  They both deal with being accepted by people!  If you've read my blog before, I wrote an entry about the need to be validated by others.  We have an instinctive need to fit in and be accepted by groups of people we hold to higher standards; The "in" crowds, if you will.  The issue with trying to fit in is that you appease your own morals and values, put them aside and adopt ones that will help you gain whatever it is you are looking for.  These's nothing worse than being something other than your authentic self.....keep in mind, you are NOT supposed to be perfect.  That's God's role:)  This is the part where I get to call you a moron again, lol.  Stripped of all of our designer labels, fancy cars, etc., you are just as average as Joe Plumber down at the corner gas station.  The so-called 'nerds' in school may have had the secret all along, they just neglected to share  it with the rest of us.  You remember those people; always had their noses stuck inside huge novels, were social outcasts.  Before he died, Steve Jobs embraced his 'nerdiness', as he often joked about in interviews, but seriously, who cares about being different?  Why is that such a bad/wrong thing?  I think we've got a lot of things backwards in the good old US of A concerning differences and the idea of Political Correctness has killed this nation in ways of social injustice and rights for certain groups.

Every thought its not life acting, us teachers put on a show every single day for the students we come into contact with.  Most of the time I improvise some of my best teaching moments; I think its good to be open and vulnerable to your students.  It humanizes you to them instead of just being Mr. John all this time.  I'm a huge ham for being the center of attention though.  I will look for any excuse to 'be on', cracking slapstick jokes, humorous quips, etc.  This is what we all need more of.  the world is hurting right now, for various reasons and people are worried about how they come off to others??

Here's a useful tip that has fared
me well over the years:  embrace your imperfections.  People will naturally be drawn to you more because of your unique personality instead of being one of the many other who act just like you.  With my physical issues, I used to become angry and get very frustrated because I was different than other kids my age but not I realize that those imperfections were a gift in disguise.  They allowed my to become the version of myself that I am today.

So to you current actors and actresses out there I say to embrace your nerdiness.  Be different; go against the grain.  If you want to play dungeons and dragons all day, go for it; if you're gay, be gay; if you're straight, go on being you bad self bro.  As humans, on the the awesomely beautiful gifts we have been given is to be able to learn from each other.  I remember a line from the movie, "Cool Runnings" in which one of the Jamaican bobsledders says "They are laughing at us because we're different.  People are always afraid of what is different." We all are more alike than we are unalike, it's just a damn shame most people can't see past the end of their nose to see the bigger picture.