see no evil, hear no evil |
And in an interesting turn of events for me two small but significant things happened this week. Both involved explanations. One was explaining my favourite quote of the month (below) and the next involved sharing with a non actor that it is okay to want it all.
“Be realistic: always wish what is impossible” ~Paulo Coelho
Today’s post is all about this. Who told you when you were little that building that cubby house was a stupid idea and noone really lived there. Or cut you down when you had silly ideas about flying to the moon. Where does that go when we grow up. For me, dishonesty exists when someone other than yourself decides your fate. How do they know? What’s their angle? They decide to tell you the odds of success versus the “reality”. According to who??
Do you use stats when you decide to cook, purchase a dress, go for a job interview. No, you jump swiftly into oblivion. Rock stars must come up again the same challenges. They must have friends constantly trying to press the mute button on them, trying to shut their dreams down. But you only have to open a magazine to see successful stories of rock stars who make it every day. Why? They committed to the task of being a full time working singer. And you can to (with acting).
I only get one chance. I’m only here once to make my mark. So for me it’s not just about getting my voice back off mute, it is also about living my dreams. And personally I also enjoy educating people to open their eyes. There are NO rules. Sure, some training will help, you will need headshots, and you’d be kidding yourself if you didn’t think auditions and networking are important. But the rest. It’s just sheer determination. Every day when you wake up the only person standing in your way is you. Actors will come and go a dime a dozen, but the fact that you are even reading this tells me two things. You get it, and you are doing it.
Next time someone tries to tell you the odds, try telling them how many people get hit by lightening a year. Maybe that will shut them up and give them some new stats to focus on rather than destroying your dreams.
And to finish off on the same brilliant philosopher and writer Paulo Coelho “When people say, ‘She’s got everything’, I’ve got one answer – I haven’t had tomorrow.”
Brilliant article, this is so true 🙂 Nobody else lives your life so why let them decide what you should do.
I'm 100% with you on that one !
Glad you enjoyed it Rachel.
I really really do agree. No-one else does live it do they. And this really resonated for me this weekend at the Film Festival. When you are surrounded by people working really hard to realise their dreams in our industry, be they producers, writers, composers, directors, actors etc, you can't help but be enthused. So really perhaps the next post should be about surrounding yourself every day with people like this so you do always feel uplifted and do always feel a sense of direction and achievement. Then I won't even need to talk about 'lightening bolt' statistics 🙂
Thanks for reading.