Page 80 - Taming Your Gremlin A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way (Rick Carson)_Neat

you what you wanted and what you believed you needed. Your act may
work superbly or it may be dismally ineffective. The important undertaking
for you is to become aware that an act is just an act and not to confuse it

with the natural you.

The soul cannot rest so long as the identity denies it.

Some of my clients have even named their more familiar acts. In recent
months I’ve met Lash Larue, the Red Queen; Clark Kent, the Mild-
Mannered Reporter; Sister Mary Perfect; Peace Love Dove Sigh Blissed-
Out Earth Mother; Muscles; Mr. Successful; Laid Back Brother; and many

others. Acting can be fun. There’s nothing wrong with developing an act.
However, to let your gremlin delude you into thinking you are or should be
your act will result in your feeling anxious and empty during the times
when you perform your act poorly. The hard truth is that your act is just as
transparent as everyone else’s.

Sooner or later you will disappoint your gremlin and those whose
applause you seek. When you do, if you’re too attached to your act, it will
smart, to put it mildly, and your gremlin will have a heyday. You will not

enjoy yourself—and given that your life is a gift, it would be a shame not to
enjoy it.

Acts and Relationships

The Big Dogs in my high school had flattops, low foreheads, big necks,
and were varsity football players. I had wavy hair, a high forehead, a big
neck, and made the varsity football team by the skin of my teeth. But my
neck didn’t get big from something like farmwork or genetics. It got that
way because I ordered a neck strap and barbells from Joe Weider Products

and worked out like a madman in an attempt to flee my semi-endomorphic
natural state and join the ranks of the Big Dogs, so that, like them, I could
strut through the halls with an adoring frosty-haired pompom girl on my
arm, or better yet, fate willing, hold her warm and tender body next to mine.