Keeping Going No Matter What...

I have been pretty lousy with my blogging as life has been a real challenge. I am auditioning with little success to-date, money is not exactly flowing - yet, and it is all been something of an emotional drain trying to remain positive and focused on creating the life and career that I want. Some days I wonder why I am doing all this but in the end, I know I am still happier than I ever was working my prior 9to5. I am progressing with my improving my craft but I have not broken through to make professional progress earning a living in my chosen field aside from occasional coaching gigs.

I keep going because I know I can make a life doing what I love. I do however, need to get a thicker skin and improve my confidence in my abilities despite my current career challenges.

I am once again reminded that I have a habit of seeing my negative self-talk as "facing reality" and my positive thinking sometimes feels like "self-delusion". I wish I knew how to switch that around. Improving my diet has been very helpful in keeping more positive. My Saturday runs also work wonders. However, getting a regular exercise program has been another challenge.

How does one learn to follow through better? I can get motivated for a while and then hit a rough patch and everything seems to feel overshadowed by my mental roadblocks to success. This weekend, I plan to work on a weekly schedule of activities so hopefully I can create more structure to help me see myself moving toward my various goals and whether motivated or down in the dumps I can rely on the structure to make it through the day. Let's see what comes of this new tactic. Whatever keeps me going...   

The Success Creed

I found this next "Success Creed" when I came across the blog "An Actor's World". I found it very motivating and also posted to my bathroom mirror. I am currently committing it to memory to help me get my life out of "idle" and moving into the direction I want it to go.

The Success Creed


I have decided to succeed.

I now know that this decision is critical - it will determine the results I get.

Furthermore, I have decided to succeed wildly.

I will make enough money to become financially secure and comfortable - with plenty left over to do good and make a real difference in the lives of people I love.

Because I know that it takes just as much effort to think big as it does to think small - I will think big. I will also work hard 

- very hard.

Success that is permanent and sustained will require massive effort on my part.

Overnight success is a fiction. I cannot plan for fictional success. Reality is not optional.

The secret to achieving my goals is my own belief that I can do it. Once I am in this frame of mind, I have already won.

All that remains to do is to execute my plan.

It's not what I achieve in the end that matters - it's who I become in the process.

Failure is just an event.

 

The Actor's Vow

I was watching a PBS documentary called "Letter to Elia" and noticed what was referred to as "The Actor's Vow" which Elia created during his time with the Actor's Studio. I found it inspiring so wanted to post it here and on my bathroom mirror. 

The Actor’s Vow

I will take my rightful place on stage
and I will be myself.
I am not a cosmic orphan.
I have no reason to be timid.
I will respond as I feel;
awkwardly, vulgarly,
but respond.

I will have my throat open,
I will have my heart open,
I will be vulnerable.
I may have anything or everything
the world has to offer, but the thing
I need most, and want most,
is to be myself.

I will admit rejection, admit pain,
admit frustration, admit even pettiness,
admit shame, admit outrage,
admit anything and everything
that happens to me.

The best and most human parts of
me are those I have inhabited
and hidden from the world.
I will work on it.
I will raise my voice.
I will be heard.

The Senseless Tragedy of Cyber-Bullying

This story of the suicide of the gay Rutgers student is such a senseless tragedy. Yet it is just the tip of the iceberg of an epidemic affecting so many gay teens who feel lost in a world of hate they cannot overcome.  So many stories lately have been shining a light of this problem.

I have experienced nothing worse than the pain and isolation that is caused by bullies who attack your spirit simply because you are an easy target to vent their own self-loathing.   If you survive this period of seemingly endless torture, you gain some measure of strength but the scars last a lifetime, on some level, whether you want them to or not..

These stories have touched me so personally as there but by the grace of God go I.