“Life is a gift and you have to enjoy it”
The show ‘Doscapacitados‘ landed on 19 March at the San José del Parque school (Madrid, Spain) to give secondary school students a lesson in motivation and self-improvement.
Through humour, Edu Lucky (comedian and stand-up comedian) and Josete (actor from the film Campeones and CampeoneX), explained the importance of mental health in a motivational talk that made people laugh and cry.
Why did you decide to perform in schools?
At first our show was designed for general audiences, but in some places we were seen by people who were involved in the world of education and they encouraged us to do it in schools and institutes. They gave us the idea and we adapted it to them.
What are the values you want to transmit?
The first thing is that we are all able and disabled, we all have disabilities and nobody is perfect. We also want to make visible the importance of having a sense of humour, knowing how to laugh at oneself. It is very important to accept oneself, to love oneself, not to compare oneself with others and to be positive in life. You have to fight for your dreams, but if you don’t achieve them, that’s OK… Let’s do something else BUTTERFLY! We have to value the little things in life and look for the little things that make us happy.
A piece of advice for any of the students who are going to see you now?
The past does not exist and neither does the future. You have to live in the present and day by day trying to be a good person and have a clear conscience… and keep on studying!
What do you like most about performing in front of teenagers?
It’s very exciting, the kids pay a lot of attention and that’s not easy. The play engages them and they find it entertaining. Giving a two-hour talk to kids of this age about motivation is a bit of a drag, but if you do it with humour, they listen to you and they like it.
How important is mental health in your show?
We have a motto: “For mental health, humour and acceptance are fundamental”. Humour (taking life with humour) and acceptance (loving yourself). Mental health is important in all aspects of our lives. Josete is a clear example that despite his problems and difficulties he is very positive and cheerful.
A piece of advice for dealing with life’s problems…
Have a great sense of humour. Humour is a sign of intelligence that helps to placate problems, brings calm and tranquillity and is a survival mechanism. When you have a sense of humour and you laugh at yourself, you are gaining acceptance from others and yourself. When you laugh at something that has upset you, it no longer has power over you.
Josete has a 70% disability due to a medical failure that occurred when he was a baby. Since he was a child, his dream has always been to act and a few years ago he was awarded a Goya Award. Without any doubt, Josete is an example of overcoming and positivism. Under the slogan “For trying…” he has given a lesson in Champions to all the students.