Turning Doubles into Triples: Resilience of an Actor in the Face of Crisis
I don’t know about you, but most days I have to give myself a reason to get out of bed. This is NOT meant to be a bad thing; this is what inspires me to do something good for my body, mind, and soul growth everyday. This could consist of making myself a healthy breakfast, practicing ten minutes longer than I normally would, finding a new monologue to work on, or giving myself 30 extra minutes of “cool down” time (as I like to call it) before I head to bed. Whatever it may be, it starts with motivation.
Pre-COVID-19, I found it hard to incorporate every little goal I wanted for myself in my personal life into my daily life because of the sheer amount of demands schooling presented me with. When the coronavirus hit, sure I was upset, but I also took it as a sign that I can start focusing all my attention on the goals I have had for myself for years that I just could never get to in a day's work.
As I documented in my earlier post, Coronavirus and the Artist: Impact and Resources to Maintain Craft and Mind, this immediate shutdown was not as productive for most, including myself. Many felt isolated, struggling to get out of bed each day just to return to the difficulty of learning ballet or tap through a screen. Many may still feel this way, but time has gone on and we are still here. I implore the acting community to begin to create again. Turn your doubles into triples!
What do I mean by this? The world has given us an opportunity to look at where we are and where we want to be. A colleague once told me to think about where I want to be in five years and start that journey now. I think this is such wonderful advice, especially for a time like this when we can work on that one thing that we have been struggling with for years and actually achieve multiple goals in a short amount of time!
The resilience of an actor is strong. We constantly fight the battle between what we want and the barrier called: no. What is stopping us from coming out of this stronger and better than ever? NOTHING! Depending on which way we interpret quarantine, the world can either be telling us no, or it could be saying yes, seize the day.
Ok. Yes, this is all great information, but how do I just start seizing the day? This term is not meant to be a stress agitator, it is meant as a guiding principle to be thinking about for the next month, or for however long this continues. It is my mantra every single day I wake up. If you are a resilient actor, which everyone should aspire to be, it means you can take what is presented and use it to your advantage. Think of it as making strong choices in a song, scene or monologue. I’m not saying it is easy, and I’m most definitely not saying that this needs to be your daily mantra. What I AM saying is that this is a great time to gauge where you are at as an aspiring artist and learn from your growing strength.
You may be wondering how to strengthen that resilience and growth. The first step, and really the singular building block of perseverance, is to sit in your bedroom, or wherever is comfortable, and reflect on where you are at and where you want to be. From there, make some attainable goals for yourself. Develop your S.M.A.R.T goals:
S: Specific
Make sure your goals are focused. If you are having trouble with this, try using the 5 W’s (who, what, where, why, when, and how). You do not want your goals to be vague, as it will cause problems when actually trying to accomplish them. Think like an actor here and know that if you were to pick a vague intention that did not carry you through your scene then you would be screwed, right? Same thing here. Make sure what you want from yourself can be seen in specific tactics later on.
Let’s use the example of Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest. Her super objective in the entirety of the play is to live happily in love with much wealth by marrying Ernest Worthing. Her goal is to live happily in love and with wealth, and she will do this by marrying Ernest Worthing.
Your goals need to be this specific. Yes, they do.
M: Measurable
Did my character get what they want in the end? How can I measure the success of their intention? This is measurement. If the intention of Gwendolyn is to marry Earnest Worthing, then her measurement of her success is when she marries Ernest (because why would she not, am I right?). She can measure her goal with a tangible outcome.
Make sure that your goals have something you can see happening in the future. Nothing arbitrary will work here. Think like Gwendolyn.
A: Attainable
Does Gwendolyn really think she can marry Ernest Worthing? Is it in the cards for this to happen based on who she is, where she comes from, where she is now, and her social status? If she thinks yes, then yes it can! Yes, it might be challenging to get past Lady Bracknell, but it is fair to reason that she could achieve this goal with her strong will.
Reflecting on this component can reveal any potential barriers. What is in your way of achieving your super objective? How can you overcome those? Can you overcome those? Remember, great goals should not be easy to achieve, but they should not be too hard that you have no willingness to achieve them.
R: Relevant and Realistic
Gwendolyn definitely believes that marrying Ernest Worthing is worthwhile. Marriage is an important aspect to life in her family and Victorian England so this goal is most definitely aligned with her values and priorities.
This is about making sure what you are trying to accomplish is relevant to you and your future successes. In other words, are your goals worthwhile? Are your goals aligned with your values? Are they current priorities for you? How can you achieve them while in quarantine and will they help you?
T: Time bound
Gwendolyn needs to be married before she is too old (or at least this is what she believes). Women of this time period were married to have babies and be the common household mother. She can outlive her suitable marrying age—her goal needs to be attained before this date.
Every goal has to have a target date. This is very easy right now as your target date can be when quarantine is over. If you have a goal that might take longer, it can extend to the middle of the summer or the beginning of the school year, etc. As long as there is a specific date set in place for your goal to be attained, you will most likely succeed in achieving it. Make sure to set a realistic time frame to achieve your goal so that you are not discouraged as you work up to that date.
Think like Gwendolyn and you will be fine!
Once you have as many of these goals that you want to try to successfully achieve by the end of the time frame you laid out, get to work! Do not pat yourself on the back and say you did them and then proceed to let them sit by in a notebook under your bed! Pin them to a wall so you see them right when you wake up, enter them in your notes in your phone, set reminders for yourself as to when you want to work on each goal. Know where you can do specific things and when based on class times, homework load, and your order of goals based on importance.
I know I had three goals for this quarantine: sleep more, make a website/blog, and get back to eating healthy. I am proud to say that I have maintained these goals daily by having checklists, reminders, and boundaries for myself. I feel motivated and eager to get back out in the world after quarantine!
One of the main reasons I love the arts community so much, especially the Musical Theatre community, is because of the resiliency, empathy and love that radiates from the work and people involved. It breaks my heart that I am watching some of this crumble while COVID-19 takes us by storm.
We will get through. We will survive.
And the best part of all? Many more communities will experience and appreciate resiliency, empathy and love more than they ever have before. The artistic community will no longer be alone! Let’s give a little more love to ourselves now so that when we enter the physical world again, the artistic community can pave the way for humanity. We got this!
Did this work for you? What are some of the goals you have set out to achieve? Comment below!
