David Daniel Ahearn: On the Way To My Dreams
Hello and welcome, my name is David. I have always found it interesting how my life has led me to this current stage of life. I grew up in a small town in Iowa that was settled on the Mississippi River. Life in Iowa was consistently “non-eventful”; the people were hard-working, kind and not demonstrative in the least. From a very young age I felt a burning desire to become a stand-up comedian—almost everyone told me this dream was impossible. Although I never took anyone’s doubt seriously, I considered it incredibly limiting thinking when people didn’t see the possibility for anyone to achieve a dream. Something inside of me knew that successful people existed in the world and I believed I could become one of them—I set out to prove to myself that I could make it in the world of comedy.
I began doing stand-up comedy at the age of 19. I worked small comedy clubs in the back of pizza shops, bowling alleys, restaurants or anywhere that allowed newcomers to get up on stage to try their wares. I worked for free performing for two years before I ever made one dime doing comedy. Those two years were some of the most memorable and formative years of my life. I learned that any dream can be achieved if we work hard, remain dedicated and put in the time to master a craft. Eventually, I began making a very modest living as a stand-up comedian and spent time in Los Angeles pursuing my dreams of making it big in television. After a short while, I came to reevaluate this decision after understanding this goal wasn’t a fit in my life and I moved back to Texas where I decided to settle in to carve out a career away from the Mecca of show business. Once again, people thought I was being short-sighted and many people told me I was making a grave mistake.
At age 27, I joined together with some of my closest friends in the world and co-created an improvisation comedy show called Four Day Weekend. What started as a limited six-week run soon turned into a full-fledged 24-year experience that changed my life in ways I can hardly describe. We created two live theaters, traveled the world performing— including shows with two U.S. Presidents in attendance—performed a USO Tour for the troops overseas—wrote a best-selling book—were named Best Small Business of the Year—won a lifetime achievement award for entrepreneurship—by all accounts, I had achieved my dreams and silenced those that had doubts.
But then a funny thing happened on the way to success. A global pandemic hit and changed everything. Our theaters were shuttered, travel and performances ceased, and I was left without an occupation. To some this might seem tragic—for me this was Divine Intervention. Everything was stripped away from me and I was left to reevaluate where I wanted to go moving forward.
With everything in the world shut down, I decided to begin a new chapter in my life. Was it scary? Of course. Did I know where I was heading? No really, but I knew that, for me, there was no more nutrition that I could gain from my former life. I had squeezed every bit of goodness out of those former chapters and I knew that if I wanted to grow I would have to try something new.
I decided to spend more time writing and delving into topics that fascinated me. I cleared my schedule so that Adi and I could travel more to discover what lay before us. We are not entirely sure what it all means yet, but we are excited to begin this new chapter. We have lots of ideas in store (and we need your help if you’re reading this).
This has become the platform I use to share my ideas with the world. I would love for you to join Adi and me on this journey. And as always, I want people to understand that when they are most down and in the grips of darkness there is an eternal light waiting on the other side of that foggy tunnel. We just have to keep moving forward together towards the light.
See David’s Books!
I would love to hear from you in your corner of the world!
David
To learn more about David’s speaking engagements:
