All throughout my life I have been quiet and shy, content to sit back and let others take the spotlight. I enjoyed activities where I was behind the scenes, such as running the audio-visual system for my church or editing videos. So when magic came along, you would think I wouldn’t be interested yet somehow, I was hooked, and it ended up becoming my passion!
Magic is a performance art form where a magician is on stage or with a group of people showing off an act, routine or trick that they have learnt, rehearsed and honed.
An Introvert is a typically reserved, shy or quiet person who tends to be introspective and enjoys spending time alone.
Yet magic attracts many introverts, me included which I find very intriguing, interesting and ironic. That’s not to say all magicians are introverts, there are plenty of extroverts in magic, just not as many as there are introverts.
Let’s look at what makes magic and introverts an ideal match in this introspective.
Magic Is a Lonely Endeavour
The process of learning magic can be quite solitary, there typically aren’t magic schools one can go to, and learning magic in a group can be good but results will vary depending on everyone’s skill level.
Often times you’ll be by yourself, in your room watching a video tutorial or reading a book, with props in hand trying to follow along and get the basics of a trick down. Once you do that, you then go through the process of practicing the trick in front of a mirror or camera before making any necessary tweaks. Only after doing all that yourself, will you then go out and show someone the trick, where the first time often results in a shaky mess of a failure.
This was how it was in my case, I enjoyed just being in my room, doing the same shuffle or “move” over and over again in order to get that muscle memory down. I recall my fingers straining while learning Daryl’s Hotshot Cut and even being in my room at camp doing the muscle pass till my palm was red with pain while everyone was elsewhere socialising.
There’s something therapeutic with just being my yourself and your hobby and I think being an introvert affords you that mode more readily.
Magic Gets Introverts Out There
Just because you’re an introvert doesn’t mean you want to be by yourself all the time, it just means you are more comfortable being by yourself. You can still hang out with others, and be in a group, but it affects you differently compared to an extrovert.
Being a magician means you should show off what you are able to do, this art forces you to perform, which is both good and can be tough for introverted magicians. It is very much worth it to share what you have learned though, many times I’ve shied away from performing when I should have, which is a regret in preparedness and opportunity. In those times where I have chosen to perform, it’s always been a good experience so I wish I should have done it sooner. Introverts need to prepare themselves and work hard to hit that on switch within so they can give a great performance. I’m sure extroverts don’t have this issue but correct me if I’m wrong.
Nerves and anxiety can stop us from taking the performance plunge, which is why I wrote an article on how I deal with it.
You Start Alone, and End Alone
You kind of need to be okay with being by yourself to be a magician or any sort of entertainer when you’re out working gig to gig.
Most people see the showman side of you, on stage or in person creating magic and making people react in all sorts of ways. But after you’re done, you’re on your own again, travelling to the hotel or back home, running through the events of the night to see what worked and what didn’t so you can be better next time. As much as I enjoy performing, I also enjoy the mundane task of driving home, making mental notes and winding down.
Sometimes I feel like I’m only interesting when I’m “on”, otherwise I appear as boring as a 2-hour lecture on how to fall asleep, but really, I just need my downtime (any maybe I’m a little bit boring too).
Let me know where you stand on the Introverted/Extroverted scale and let me know how it’s been for you in magic!
