RSS
Home
Jennifer Hudson's work life resilience at Super Bowl XLIII
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
She took a breath, belted it out and didn't miss a beat. Jennifer Hudson reached somewhere deep inside of herself, stepped onto a platform and performed the Star Spangled Banner before 72,000 people at Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa. The pressure of standing before the world in one of the most highly watched annual moments globally - only provides one dimension to her performance.
This was the first public appearance for the 2006 Oscar winner (Dreamgirls), since her mother, brother and nephew were murdered in their Chicago home last fall. It was shattering for Hudson who went into seclusion, as anyone would have after such a tragedy. But life does go on as the American Idol star has demonstrated.
This moment was one of the most anticipated surrounding the Super Bowl. Hudson's a professional, but it's a heck of a song with a mandatory upper range for vocals. I was practically holding my breath just watching her. But confidence and her talent kept her cool. She finished up with a strong arm into the air, as if pounding the last few moments of the song to the universe.
Hudson was ready for the moment, but still humble at heart. After her performance, according to the Associated Press, she asked pre-game show producer Ricky Minor how she did. Here's a telling excerpt:
"This was such an important performance because it was the first time anyone has seen Jennifer. But she's in such a great place with such great spirits - and time can heal her wounds. She's on fire right now and totally grounded," Minor said.
Hudson was very calm and prepared, and he counseled her to take the deep breath before she began, so she could put herself in the moment." Associated Press
There it is again - the breath - the moment. Imagine if we took the time to do that before we erupted in a moment of crisis at work, before we blew our lids over something little, before we reached out with less than kind words, or made a split second decision that we would regret later. The problem is that we forget to take that breath - why?- because we don't practice. It's just a woo woo way of dealing, some would argue. But it's really not.
The breath calms the body. There's plenty of research out there to prove it. The more we consciously take a step back from the workplace consternation that ails us - the better we'll respond from a place of wisdom instead of reacting from a place of fear. We have to fake it till we make it. The more we practice, the more we crystalize our ability to take pause, the more we accumulate stillness in the face of an uncertain world.
For Jennifer Hudson, she couldn't fake it. There was nothing airy fairy about the breath tonight. It was survival, and most would agree, a little bit of grace.
