Hello Hello! Welcome to my little corner of the Internet! Wherever and whenever you are reading this, thank you so much for taking the time to hear what I have to say.
I started a blog in 2016 because it had been something that kept popping up in my brain. So I started… and then stopped. After two posts. I was very critical and wanted any of my writing that was going to be posted and potentially seen by people to be “perfect” (perfect is in quotes because that is made up and there is no such thing, ha, anyway). It got to the point where the two posts that were up on the blog had been edited by multiple peers, myself and it took weeks to make one post. That’s no fun for anyone. I couldn’t be consistent with this obscene pressure I was putting on myself for something that was supposed to be fun and was definitely not any sort of big deal. We are back though and better than ever because now I have an IDEA. A clear direction and so I had to make the leap. After all, “done is better than perfect” so here we are. It still needs to be explored, but let me know what you think.
As an actor, we get hired to play humans (usually ;) ) Being human, shockingly, is no small feat. As an artist it is so easy to get sucked into your work, the industry, walking into audition after audition to class to work to home and do it all over again. Anyone in any industry probably feels that way, after getting into the same routine day in and day out. We, I, forget to be present and forget what it means to be human. This probably sounds funny because we are innately all human, obviously. I mean more in the sense of being alive, being present, being grounded. FEELING human rather than just walking through life and as an actor, only doing actor things. Believe it or not, we are not always going to get cast as an actor. This was something I struggled with a great deal. I wanted to be good at acting, heck I still do, I have so much more to learn. Just doing acting things all day every day proved to not work for me. I was forgetting me. There has to be a balance, which is a word that plays in my head quite frequently. Spend a part of your day being an actor, while also putting the focus on the other things that make you tick. Doing other things in your life that are fulfilling AND that are things you can control. It will ultimately add to the work anyways.
I guess this blog is for being human in an industry that pays you to be human. Any sort of artist or creative. If you are reading this and saying that is not you, valid, but everyone is creative. There are just people who actively pursue being creative more than others. Meaning this blog can be for anyone and everyone. You do not have to be an actor or in the entertainment industry to relate or have something resonate with you (hopefully)! I only will say actor and artist because that is what I can speak to. I also can’t really speak for all artists and actors as well because this could be a very different take on that journey, since… let’s all say it together…. Everyone’s journey is different! Ahhh what a beautiful thing too. It makes life so much more interesting.
That’s what I am interested in exploring and I really hope you will care to join and help explore it with me. Let’s just sit in that discomfort together. Exploration, constantly discovering you, being self-aware takes discomfort. It’s okay though because we’ll be doing it together and I will be sending you love and positivity all the while. It is something that has come to my attention more and more since I graduated from college some months ago. Without having a constant set schedule, it has made me reflect a great deal on me and what I can bring to a space, what kind of art I want to create, who I am as a human and how do I want to live my life when I don’t have a project?
I want to ask better questions. Questions like how are you? How is your heart? What makes you tick right now? What are your rituals and daily practices? Questions that bring us all deeper to our core, that ultimately impact the work. Our work as artists. Bringing pieces of our heart and breathing life into characters from these things that contribute so much. You can’t just be an actor to be an actor. You have to be a person first. Who are you when you’re not in a show? This was a hard pill to swallow because I haven’t had to sit with that. For eight years there hasn’t been more than only a couple of months where I wasn’t in a show. Now if you know me, you know I’m always working on something, but sometimes it’s not in the way I wanted, expected or was hoping for.
I’m nervous and excited to start this! I truly hope you will join me.
-O
P.S. I am still trying to figure this all out technically so I am always looking for suggestions, feedback, your thoughts! Please feel free to send me a message or comment below. Thank you. Xox
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