Star of the Show

I have been the star of the show a few times in my life.

I love it.

When I was sitting in the hair and makeup chair behind stage before The Merchant of Venice, I remember having a moment of introspection. The girls doing my hair and makeup were putting all this effort into making ME looking good, but they were the ones doing the thankless job behind stage and not getting any glory.

I asked one of them if she minded being the silent star of the show, the girl who made it all happen behind the scenes.

She said she loved it.

It was the first time I had realized not everyone likes being the star.

I had always assumed that the best place to be was on stage, but not everyone likes being the star. Most people don’t.

Even though not everyone is cut out for the stage, I think every now and then being the star of some type of show is healthy and beneficial.

Being able to sit back and let people dote on you is something that many people struggle with, but it’s necessary and good at times to allow others to do the behind the scenes work so you can shine.

Recovery postpartum, being a bride or groom at a wedding, having a bachelor or bachelorette party, retiring from work, celebrating birthdays, recovery from surgery, being ill – all these times of life tend to involve others “doting” on us.

Sitting back and letting others help us, serve us, love us, and celebrate us can be hard for some of us, but we need to learn to let them. It’s actually healthy to sit back and be the star every now and then.

As contradictory as it seems, it actually brings joy to people to bring joy to you.  It’s a service to others to let others serve us. By allowing people to help us and to serve us, we are showing them that we appreciate their love.

Some people like being behind the scenes, some people like the spotlight.

But no matter who you are, we all need to be the star of the show every now and then.