Balance Check-In

So, I started this little blog about 3 months ago.  I set a list of goals for myself, and I feel like the time has come to check in and see how I'm doing on those goals.

1)  Create a schedule for myself.

• I don't know that I have a rigid schedule for myself, and things do vary week by week depending on how much I'm working at my bar... but I think I've done a pretty good job of giving myself some sort of accountability for my time.  I go to yoga at least 4 times a week, sometimes 7.  Wednesdays I have my theatre company meetings, Thursdays my monologue class, and the other days of the week are spent with yoga in the morning, a break to do "acting homework", and then heading to my bar job.  I still waste time... but I've gotten so much better about actively pursuing life.

2)  30 Day Yoga challenge

• Yep.  did that.  Unfortunately, I didn't keep up my running.  Actually, it's not unfortunate.  It was a very deliberate choice.  Running is REALLY bad for your joints, and I feel that with yoga I am getting an adequate work out.  Sure, when the NYC Marathon happened last week, I felt a little twinge of sadness in knowing I will never run it... but... I did a 3K and that was cool.  Now I'm on the yoga train!

3)  Project Get and Agent

• This is still in the works.  However, I've learned a LOT about the business end of acting, and feel like I am definitely on the right track.  I've met producers, casting directors, and agents, all of whom were lovely people who didn't bite my head off.  Sure, I don't have an agent yet... but that's ok.  I will.  And I'm very proud of the work I've done.  Since I started this blog, I've been cast in and performed in 2 shows, one of which was Off-Broadway.  No, I'm not where I thought I would be when I was 26 years old.  But... at least I'm not barefoot in a trailer, pregnant with a good for nothing husband.  (Because that's the only alternative.)

So... on checking in... I'm very proud of how far I've come.  It's still a struggle every day to get out of bed... some days way easier than others... but I am happy with how my life has progressed.  However, I think it's time to set some new goals.  Because I do feel I've gotten a little complacent, and we can't have that!  I have to keep moving forward.

1)  Resume classes at UCB

• I took Improv 101 at UCB over a year ago, and it was amazing.  It helped me figure out that I don't want to do musical theatre.  It pushed me to realize that I love doing comedy and straight theatre.  My goal for  2012 is to complete all 4 levels.

2)  Being production on my web series

• I met a girl at an audition for Steel Magnolias, and though I did not get cast, I am so grateful that I went to that audition.  She's such a cool person, and we have begun collaborating on a web series together.  We wrote the pilot.  We are figuring it out as we go along.  It is going to be a stressful disaster, but I hope that at the end of the stressful disaster, we have something we're really proud of.

3)  Travel somewhere cool

• I love to travel.  And... I never do it.  Sure, I go home to visit friends and family... but the last time I went on a destination vacation, it was Orlando, FL.  I live so close to so many cool things... and I never ever see them.  Prince Edward Island.  Salem.  Concord.  Boston.  Washington D.C., Niagra Falls.... etc.  So that really needs to happen.  Getting out of NYC is good for the heart and soul, and DEFINITELY helps one maintain a sense of balance.

So... onward and forward!  And hopefully not like that little baby elephant in Planet Earth who gets seperated from his mom and then ends up following their tracks in the wrong direction.  That makes me SO sad.

Eastern Medicine

I've done it!  I've realized that I have achieved so many of my childhood goals!  I just should have been a bit more specific...

Growing up, I wanted to be a starving artist.  I thought the idea sounded so romantical.  I imagined myself eating soup in a cold apartment surrounded by my art, and probably not receiving any critical acclaim until I was dead and buried... like Van Gogh and Monet and all the great painters.  Doesn't that just sound SO romantic?  Woops.  Be careful what you wish for!

I always wanted to live in a brownstone... and now I do!  It just happens to be in the middle of Harlem...

I never wanted an office job, to be a teacher, to have any sort of "real" job... all I ever wanted was to be an artist.  I tried coming up with ways I could be an artist and make money... like interior design.  But ick.  I hated that. 

So I've been thinking a lot recently about happiness and what I need to do to feel rooted in life.  Would a 9-5 job do that?  I think it would bring me comfort and a sense of stability... but I think I would be giving up on my dreams.  And since I've already achieved them (in a sense) I think I owe it to myself to see where they end up.  Maybe they will end up in comfort and a sense of stability... I just have to wait a little longer.

And for that, I am so grateful for Eastern Medicine.  Western medicine sucks.  If you're sick, you basically have to have a lot of money to make you better.  Or a job that offers an insurance plan that will make lots of money to make you feel better.  Since I don't have that, I am so grateful for my Eastern Medicine.  I swear by Bikram Yoga.  SWEAR BY IT.  If I miss classes, I feel like crapola, and odds are if I miss 4 in a row, I'm going to get sick.  I can wake up feeling lost, sad, and full of anxiety, but I head to my yoga studio and by the end, my head feels a little more clear, and I am much more capable of facing my day.

I don't know how long I will practice.  I'm only 3 months in, which is basically a blink... but I like to imagine that I can make this a life long practice.  One of my favorite sayings our instructors always spout during class:

If you can, you must.

So I guess I must.