What do we do now?
If you are grieving for our industry, feel lost, afraid or are in shock, then you are not alone.
These are normal reactions to what is going on.
Many actors are wondering what they should do. How will they keep themselves going?
It is natural to experience these feelings, but we do not want to get stuck there. So, what do we do? We need to be realistic enough to make practical plans and optimistic enough to keep the faith. Here are some ideas on what that might look like.
Practical plans
This might mean switching your day job to one that works in this new world. The optimistic side of this is to hope and aim for a side hustle that’s even better than the one you had before. Why not have a job with more fulfilment, more flexibility, more pay? If you’re closed to that as a possibility, it will be hard to achieve – but remember there are always people who thrive in difficult situations. The invitation is to decide – that that will be you.
Being practical may even mean taking some time out from acting entirely. Using the time to save money to reinvest in your career later or a house or that improved side-hustle. To learn a skill, perhaps, and plan your come-back when there’s more fruit to be harvested.
It also means taking action. We need to keep fighting for The Arts. Not by moaning on social media, but by using your voice more effectively: email your local MP, tweet @OliverDowden, go on the march or sign this petition. Words aren’t enough we need action. And we do have power albeit not absolute.
Optimism and Faith
Alongside action we need faith. Challenges force us to grow. If we are to survive, we need to adapt. This takes optimism, belief and creativity. We cannot be creative and find solutions when we are negative. So, we need to resist being drawn into negative industry speculation. Yes, take action, as per above, then move on from the problems to brainstorming solutions.
Ask questions. We shut down our brain’s capacity to explore when we say, “I don’t know”. Instead ask questions. Use this time to explore. How might we use this time wisely? What could we do to pivot our businesses? What creative solution might there be for actors, for theatres, for you? Even try the question, if I did know what to do next, what might that look like? This allows the brain to search through all the data it has and can find to pull ideas to you. Ideas on how to transform that we might not yet be able to see.
There may be a lot to feel concerned about right now. But what we focus on expands, so we can’t let ourselves get stuck imagining a future worse than the now. If we co-create our reality, and there’s lots of evidence to say we do – then we must, must, all stay positive about our industry and manifest it back into life. It isn’t easy. We won’t be able to do it every moment of every day. But we can’t give up.
It will take patience, and a huge creative pivot of some kind, but if anyone can do that actors can.
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You may also be interested in my free seminar on Building Emotional Resilience for Actors here.
