douglashimself

I was once completely socially inept. I got scared talking to girls. I couldn’t dance. I would talk about REALLY dull things and scare people away.

At a Christmas drinks thing I ended up speaking to a mate’s girlfriend for the first time. She was just lovely. Because she was a) going out with a friend, and b) waaay out of my league, I didn’t worry about impressing her. So there, standing next to the sausage rolls, I relaxed and just talked.

She listened patiently as I rambled, and I found myself talking about my self-esteem. She asked for an example, and looking around I pointed to some guys dancing and explained I would never be able to get up and dance in front of people. Too shy, too worried. She smiled, looked me in the eye and told me a secret. Two minutes later I was dancing for the whole room to see.

I wasn’t great, but I’d begun. And it felt great. I used her secret party after party and event after event, and now I feel completely relaxed standing up and dancing. I do it all the time. I’m sometimes the first up, egging on others and helping them enjoy it.

She had told me that no-one in the room could dance. I spluttered a little and awkwardly responded that I thought they could. Certainly compared to me. But she shook her head. Look again she said. They can’t dance, they’re just pretending they can dance. Just pretending to. I looked. They did all seem a bit foolish now I thought about it. Maybe they didn’t know what they were doing, maybe they were just pretending. Making it up as they went. She asked me: you can pretend too, can’t you?

And I thought – Sure, why not?

So I stepped on the dancefloor and I pretended to dance. No-one said a thing, they just grinned and danced with me like it was the most natural thing in the world.

I’m now happily outgoing and people I’ve met since those days can’t believe me if I mention I used to be shy. But I was. And I’ll always be thankful for that girl who took the time to talk with a geeky kid, and share a little kindness.

I’ve been lucky enough to be in the credits of a bunch of films, and there are few things as satisfying as that.

It’s a personal thing, something which makes you feel important in a silly little way. It’s all about Pride which some people will tell you is a deadly sin, but nuts to that. Being proud feels great!

And the secret to enjoying being in the credits of a movie EVEN MORE?

It’s to have worked damned hard, and to see the results up there in the movie. It may just be slight, but if you made the difference to how the film turned out, then you’re a part of cinema – of cinematic history – and no-one can ever take that away from you.

Get ready to pay attention, because this guy is clever and he won’t wait for you. He just keeps ploughing ahead with insights and witticisms (and Britishisms, my favourite), ideas and laughs.

Oh, and his stories aren’t bad either.

Take a holiday across the Galaxy with him!