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It feels like it’s the peak of pageant season madness at the moment, and so there’s a good chance you’ve just finished competing, or are about to compete very soon.
And, unless you’re competing in an incredibly small pageant (or one where the winner is appointed), there’s probably more than a ninety percent chance you’re going to lose.
(Yes, in this case any result other than winning is counted as losing.)
The question I’ve been asking myself recently, after seeing some of my clients endure some very painful losses:
Is pageantry still worth it?
I know I might be in a minority of one here as far as pageant coaches go, but something doesn’t feel right about encouraging you to pour your blood, sweat, and tears into something that has such a high chance of not being worth it.
And before you get on your high horse, I’m well aware that we often say it’s about the journey and not the destination, and in pageant terms that means we should be focussed on the personal growth and connections we make.
But let’s say that you spend somewhere between five and ten thousand dollars in total on your next pageant: gown, costumes, hair, makeup, travel, coaching, training, etc.
(That’s a conservative estimate, by the way.)
In terms of the “opportunities” that pageants supposedly give us, are we really so sure that we couldn’t create more opportunities for ourselves by using that money in other ways?
Living expenses whilst you take an unpaid internship toward your dream job
Travelling to do missionary work
Legal expenses to start up your non-profit
A business coach or software expenses to start up your side hustle
We’re not living in the 2000s anymore. Your ability to create opportunity for yourself, as an individual, is greater than at any other point in human history. Between the internet, social media, and AI, you could quite literally teach yourself anything you want to know, or start a multi-million-dollar business overnight.
Against that backdrop, what is the ‘opportunity’ that pageantry can give you that you wouldn’t be able to give yourself better, faster, and probably cheaper?
For myself, there are two and only two reasons that genuinely make pageantry worth it in today’s world, not the world of twenty to thirty years ago. I allude to them in this week’s video, but the point isn’t to copy my reasons.
The point is to find your own.
And if you haven’t found them yet, keep looking.
Maybe outside of pageantry.
Adrian.
The Beginner’s Guide to Pageantry - Everything You Need to Compete in Your First Pageant With Confidence... Even If You’re Starting From Zero:
