Did my title catch your attention? I bet it did. Well I hate to break it to you but there's no quick fix to become a successful actress. In fact, it's exactly that whole notion of what it means to be successful that I am setting out to change.
Success. We all want it. It's what we work towards. But in order to be successful you must be the best. So we work towards being the best at something. Without even realizing it we put so much pressure on ourselves to be the most talented, the most in shape, the most successful, all so that we can post about it on social media. If it isn’t on instagram it didn’t happen, right?
Facebook status: “Now that the papers are signed and everything is official, I am so excited to FINALLY announce that I’ll be touring the world, doing what I love in the international tour of BIG NEW MUSICAL. New York, it’s been fun but I’ll see you later! #blessed” 267 likes. Instagram post: “First day of school! Can’t wait to start this process with a dream cast and incredible creative team!” This of course is accompanied by a picture of a libretto on a music stand. 321 likes.
Now let me clarify something. I love watching my friends succeed. It makes me so happy to watch people I care about do what they love and get paid for it! Regardless of the competitive nature of our industry, I’ve found that many people want to be supportive. They want to cheer you on and celebrate your fierceness. But what percentage of our lives are actually spent doing things that we think are worth celebrating? If being booked is how we’re measuring success then how often can we say we’re successful? So what if we flip it? What if we start celebrating all the moments of not-success? The negative space, if you will. And that’s what brings me to two of my favorite quotes:
“The journey is the destination.”
“The journey is the reward.”
Journeys. We all have one and just like us, our journeys are uniquely our own. They’re exciting, inspiring, filled with love, hope, and joy. They’re also scary, boring, and can be filled with shame, jealousy, and pain. But no matter how different my journey is from someone else’s, they’re both entirely real. My dear reader, this is where you come in. (If you want to be involved.) I want to know where you are. Right now. I don’t care where you’ve been and I don’t care where you’re going. I’m interested in the journey you’re on today. This week. What are your struggles and how are you dealing with them? What have you learned? How have you grown recently? What small victories have you won? Are you even aware of them? If not, I want to bring awareness to them and even more so, I want to celebrate them. I want to love where I am right now because that’s where I’m supposed to be or I wouldn’t be here. And I want to do the same for you. This is going to require you to slow down and be totally real with me. And of course it’s going to require me to do the same with you.