That time I accidentally achieved a bucket list dream

When I was young, I wanted to be either an actor or a late night show comedy writer (among a few other things, but those two were constants).

I loved watching talk show monologues and SNL, and I had a bucket list dream of one day getting laughs in a comedy club (I definitely considered myself too shy for stand-up back then, but I did admire them!).

Over the 15-20 years since then, I mostly forgot about that dream. I didn’t even think about it when I got asked to be part of a love-themed storytelling show, Once Upon a Woman, that was happening in a comedy club last year.

The day of the show I was SO stressed. I knew my 8-minute story by heart - the story of matching with my now-boyfriend online during the pandemic, telling him about my muscle disability for the first time on our second date, and becoming an invisible disability speaker on resilience and belonging - but was super self-conscious about still having a cough from a cold that was ending.

I’d never performed under these conditions before, and I wasn’t even sure I COULD get through 5 minutes of talking without a coughing fit, let alone 8.

Eventually my time slot came, and miraculously I made it through without a single cough. Getting off stage I felt a huge wave of relief, followed by a spike of excitement at another realization - I had just gotten SO MANY LAUGHS at a comedy club! The bucket list goal I hadn’t thought about for 15+ years actually happened!

Little Lauren would have been shocked, and maybe initially horrified, but probably eventually proud. Because little Lauren never talked about her disability. She thought if she shared it too early, it could scare people off. She never would have imagined achieving one of her bucket list goals by sharing a dating story where she had to own who she is.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from my journey of being open about my muscle disability, it’s that it’s a lot easier to work WITH who you are, as opposed to trying to work against who you are. And I really hope that as more people see my story, they can embrace this lesson too 🫶🏽✨

PS - I didn’t get a good video at that show, but I told the same story at a Replay Storytelling show and got so many laughs there too - you can watch the video on YouTube here!