Dear Self...

Today’s blog post is an assignment, should you want to be bothered.

Yes, the industry is a dumpster fire. Yes, we continue to navigate a mine field on so many levels.

For those of you who have decided to stay the course and get yourself back in that audition room after the pandemic, it might feel completely normal, back to the usual, or might feel bizarre, unfamiliar, and a bit (or a lot) triggering.

All feelings are valid. All choices are valid.

Maybe you’ve decided to explore other options moving forward - and guess what? There are ALWAYS options.

Your artistic life will thrive in whatever form you choose to pursue.

So, if you are feeling “stuck”, or need a change of mindset, a little motivation, a little clarity, I have an exercise that I find very empowering.

Find time and space.

Using a pen and paper, you will write 3 letters. They can be as long or a short as you decide to make them.

Letter #1 will be addressed to your Younger Self. That self that wanted to be a _____ fill in the blank. This is a letter of thanks and acknowledgement. It’s a letter of forgiveness. It’s a letter of recognition. It’s a letter of you, NOW, speaking to you, THEN. What do you see in that younger self that you admire? That you will continue to nourish?

Then, the next letter: Letter #2 will be addressed to the industry. The good, the bad and the ugly. It can be to the industry at large; it can be to specific people or circumstances that impacted you; Just start writing! Let it be stream of consciousness. Just write!

The 3rd letter is a letter to your FUTURE self: who is that future self? What are they doing? How are they being? What have they discovered? How do they live? Another stream of consciousness as you recognize who that future self could be.

You can do this exercise all at once, or break it up to reset. It should be empowering! It might be a bit exhausting. Take your time. Nobody sees these letters but you. You may decide to seal them in an envelope. You may decide to shred them or rip them up and throw them away. You may want them to be close by to re-read when you need to see how far you’ve come and what is possible.

Your younger self may have been idealistic and naive but full of hope. That younger self can still influence your future self - but now the self is simply more aware of so much more.

Allow yourself to claim that momentum of self. It is the self, the artist, the humanity, the authenticity, the integrity that leads that younger self to now, and now to future self. The industry is simply a place to inhabit along the way!

Let me know what you thought about this process. I would love to know what it revealed and what it motivated!

with fondness & fierceness,