Herbert Fong

Transcript

It's an electric evening in April 2024. I had just finished performing a spoken word poem in front of a live audience of hundreds in a national poetry slam broadcasted worldwide. When I finished, I heard the loudest and most thundering applause I've ever heard in my life. I felt an immense sense of pride, of achievement, and I noticed people around me were complimenting just how brave I was in that moment. But little did people know, just four years before that, I was at rock bottom.

The pandemic was in full force. And that meant I couldn't meet my friends nor travel like I used to. As a pianist, it hurt so much not being able to express myself through music. As concert halls and music schools shuddered, hope was nothing more than a distant memory. I felt so depressed. Months went by without an achievement. Nostalgia was intense and memories of my past travels and adventures flooded my mind every single day. I spent hours and hours looking at photos I've taken of my past travels.

And as a way to cope, I reminded myself that I really needed to do something again, adventurous with lots of risk and lots of unknowns ahead. But hold on, social anxiety felt heavy. I had a fear of being around unfamiliar people. And there was this inner voice that was saying all these things, even negative things towards me all the time. So many aspects about interpersonal interaction felt awkward and downright scary for me as a person who stutters. The pandemic eventually lifted and I found myself going to different events and gatherings in the quest of gaining new experiences and knowledge.

I still had a lot of anxiety and so I took little steps one at a time in a mission to help others. I found safety in going to different events where I could open up new conversations with people around me and in the process make some new friends. one of whom is unlike anyone else I've ever met before. Enter Lindy, a spoken word poet. I got to see her perform poetry for the first time with such intriguing imagery and storytelling. I was immediately hooked seeing her performances.

Suddenly, I could see myself share stories on stage in new and creative ways I've never imagined before. Lindy brought out my hidden storytelling skills to light through her encouragements from her workshops. I started performing in poetry slams and open mics all around town. Signing up to perform might sound really scary at first, but I had my love for storytelling be at the forefront of my mind. Letting poetry be the vehicle to share my stories. I let the power of storytelling and poetry writing overcome any negative inner voice I may have had.

Unexpectedly, in my performances, I found myself crushing social anxiety like a champ. And not just that, working with Lindy brought me back enjoyment not just in literature and writing, but to music as well. Through my newfound bravery from poetry slams, I brought my music back from a long hiatus. I thenworked with different music schools all around town with the same bravery in hopes of gaining new teaching opportunities. Eight months of doing that, plus lots of performances and uncertainty in between when all of a sudden, out of the blue, I found out that I got the offer into my dream job of piano teaching.

I kept performing poetry afterwards, ever since, doing my best to keep that inner voice at bay. Looking back, it's just so amazing to see how much I transformed from a really shy person into an imperfect yet confident person. Thanks to the power of the spoken word, I let the ease of letting inspiration in be my main tool to keep a positive mindset. Sometimes it's as simple as putting your pen to paper and letting your heart out. Other times, in the face of unknowns in your journey ahead, taking little steps and little risks, one at a time, might be something that will build a path into making your dreams come true.

Thank you so much,

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.