Yesterday, I took my daughter Hannah to see Matilda…
…and found an unexpected opportunity to face my fears and reflect on life and its challenges!
As I followed Hannah out of the auditorium to go to the bar for our interval drinks, a man sitting in the auditorium caught my eye. I wondered whether he was a parent from school and very briefly pondered the coincidence of him also being in London on the same day, during the same showing of Matilda as we were.
Then, it struck me: He looked a lot like ‘Freddie’ Flintoff, former England Cricket Captain and Team Captain on Sky1’s ‘A League of their Own‘, amongst many other things!
As we got to the bar, I told Hannah “There’s a guy who looks just like Freddie Flintoff…look!” and we spent some minutes trying to work out whether it really was him (he had his children with him and, we realised as we returned to our seats, his wife, too, which gave us the chance to quickly google him and verify that, indeed, the coincidence of someone looking just like Freddie Flintoff and having a wife and children that look just like Freddie’s wife and children was highly unlikely, thus it was really him).
We got quite excited at this point – I’m not ashamed of it. Although I know nothing about cricket, I do know of ‘Freddie’ Flintoff, of course, and have watched ‘A League of their Own’ a few times, too. I was more than a little star-struck.
Hannah was beside herself and really keen to get to speak to him and/or have her photo taken with him. We both turned to jelly!
The second half of the show started and was even better than the first, so we thought no further about it until it was time to leave. As we walked out of the theatre, there was Freddie with his family, across the road, looking like they were waiting for other people in their party. Lots of people were looking at them and probably, like us, pondering whether it would be OK to approach Freddie. We walked past, starting to make our way towards the tube station, but I could see Hannah’s little face dropping. She’d been so excited to see this real-life celebrity (who, ladies, let me tell you, is even more gorgeous in real life than on TV!) and was counting on me, her Mamma, to approach him. I had butterflies! I thought it felt rude to impose on his family day out. But I looked at Hannah and thought “If I do this, what do I have to lose? I can be polite and respectful and, at worst, he’ll say no. But if I don’t try, I’m letting my daughter down and will kick myself for a missed opportunity.”
So, heart pounding in my chest, holding Hannah’s hand and with her firm promise that she wouldn’t run off if I did approach Freddie for her, I walked up to him. He was taking a selfie (I think!) and when he finished, I said “Hi, I’m so sorry to bother you – I know you’re having a day out with your family – but would you terribly mind me taking a photo of you with my daughter?” Freddie smiled, put his arm around her and asked her if she’d enjoyed the show, which she told him she had. I asked him if he’d enjoyed it; he said yes. After we waited for a passing car, the driver of which was unimpressed by my blocking traffic to take a photo, I took the photo, thanked him and wished him a good day. Freddie smiled again and we went on our merry way, Hannah beaming and seemingly walking on air!
Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff with Hannah outside Cambridge Theatre, London
This episode made me ponder how often we don’t try things, we don’t give situations our best shot, we don’t make sales calls, etc because we’re afraid. We let our inner voice take over “You’ll be mortally embarrassed, you’ll be humiliated, they’ll say no” and a myriad other discouraging nonsensical statements designed to put us off. But what would happen if we ignored that little voice and did things that scare us, anyway?
Last week, I did my first ever ‘Graduation’ speech to a group of CIPD ‘graduants’, their friends and family and assorted academics and CIPD representatives. I had said ‘yes’ before I had time to think about it too much and, despite some understandable nerves, did it and received great feedback from attendees and organisers alike.
I also did my first School Assembly to a group of 140 Year 10 pupils (14-15 year olds) at The Hayfield School in Doncaster and that, too, was very well received by all.
On 6th November, I’ll be facing my fears again by doing a short stand-up comedy slot for charity. I’m even more scared of not raising enough funds though, so if you’d like to help, please donate to Weston Park Cancer Hospital Charity by clicking on this Just Giving link.
So, what do you have to lose? Give it your best shot, try something that scares you. What’s the worst that could happen? How much worse would you feel if you didn’t try and felt the loss of opportunity that you can no longer go back and grab?
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