Welcome to my final blog post of the month that feels like it’s simultaneously lasted a year and a day! Has it been a crazy month for you? Most everyone I know seems to have had a chaotically busy start to the year, and I feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels.
So let’s take a moment to really ask ourselves–what am I in pursuit of?
Sometimes (oftentimes), I feel like I’m on a bit of a runaway train. And while I’m “doing things,” I’m not clear on what I’m working towards in the short term, or the motivation within me isn’t there. I think this can be boiled down largely to capitalistic ideas. Advancement over improvement, becoming over being, collecting over exploring. We are on that ever-winding road to success, and anything that doesn't almost instantly give us more isn’t worth our precious time. Especially surrounding the infinitely-edged sword of the entertainment industry.
One of my favorite quotes that I learned from my time at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in college is, “Growth as an actor and growth as a human being are synonymous.” Stella valued people not only as artists, but also as humans with empathy who could be actors as much as they could be humanitarians and parents and friends and citizens of the city, the state, the country, and the world. And–thank goodness–she imbued that into the training that molded me as a young adult.
It is a wild world that we live in–there’s no way around it. There is war and inhumanity abound. It can make you feel really small and powerless. To the point that you become apathetic. If so-and-so is probably not doing anything about it, why should I? I implore you, do not let that voice win. The diffusion of responsibility we often feel as tiny humans in a big world is absolutely debilitating to everything we share as citizens of this planet. So if you can pause your brain when it feels overwhelmed and ready to shut down in the face of all the stress and information it is almost constantly receiving, take a breath and ask one simple question: If we don’t do it, who will?
It disheartens me to no end when people who want to be or even already call themselves artists care more about their careers and getting ahead than they do about how they are to others and what kind of person they themselves are. We want and want and want so badly–this sickness of possession–that we forget that this is our life! How are we spending our time? And if we don’t make adjustments in how we live our day-to-day lives, how is anything on a larger scale going to progress?
There is a certain nobility in the mess of our lives. I’ll admit, I get something (sometimes) from running around and being busy and tired all the time. But truthfully, it ain’t fun. And when I think about the grand scheme of my life, I don’t want it to be about all of that; I want it to be about my expansion as a human person and how I can share in goodness with others. So, if I may plant a few more seeds into our boundless garden of questions and musings; How can I give myself and the people around me gentleness? How can I show up? How can I truly care?
Be safe out there. Hold onto the intentions with which you want to live your life. And please, do not lose sight of our collective humanity; we need it now more than ever.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
P.S. – My friends and I are running (walking) a 5K on March 2nd to raise money for
mental health counseling for children & families in Gaza.
Please donate and/or share–all is appreciated & very much needed!