#NerdsUnite: The Ramblings of a Raconteuse (What the heck am I doing?)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Helenna. We met on twitter not too long ao, and she's totes mcgotes one rad chiquita banana with a flare for all things flair! That's right, Helenna here is what we call an artsy fartsy nerd. She's a poet, into all things dramatic arts, and she's going to come on board to write each week about her love of said drama. Well not like actual drama drama, like some cat fight shit - but you get the idea. I only have one thing left to say ... HIT IT HELENNA!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Helslevy

A lot of women I know in their late 20s and early 30s in the entertainment industry are going through a very similar thing right now. The “what the heck am I doing,” “why aren’t things quite clicking,” and “I’m just plain exhausted” funk. Some of them have biological clocks that are starting to tick in a major way, some are considering leaving show business completely, and others are just bummed out.

After many long conversations I’ve been having over the past few months, it seems like it’s almost a case of “too much potential.”  Basically, these women are incredible. I have no doubt that if they were all pursuing any other profession other than entertainment, they’d be well on their way to being CEOs and earning six figure salaries.  And at the risk of sounding too proud, I would definitely include myself among these women.

I have always had ridiculously high standards for myself, was an ‘A’ student throughout high school and university, and did an embarrassing amount of work for extra credit and “brownie points.”  I often wish that there was another profession, some ‘something else’, anything else that I wanted to do more than acting, because the route to get to financial success in that field would be infinitely less complicated than the route to financial success as an actor.  Even in Jenna Fischer’s famous blog entry she talks about the fact that a teacher told her “if you can do anything else you should do it,” and that she thinks that’s good advice. Quite frankly, I think so too.

Entertainment is not for the faint of heart, and a recent article in Backstage  laid it all out very clearly.  Basically reading through it, I realized that I might be totally crazy. I mean really, go through and read all of the points.  Really.  The amount of instability and change that I experience on a day to day basis is bananas.  But, the really ridiculous part of it all is that I love it. While each one of the points was totally terrifying when you read them all in one sitting, the realities of this business are also incredibly exciting.  Every single day it’s like you are at the top of the hill on a roller coaster ride not knowing what’s around the next corner, how far down the downs go, and how high the highs.

So what do my friends and I do with this weird melancholy we’ve been experiencing lately?

None of us are fresh off the plane anymore.  No longer bright eyed and bushy tailed, and whatever other cliché you can throw in here.  You might even be able to say that we are a bit jaded and a little hardened.  But the great thing is that we are still here together in the trenches holding on and ready to step out again into completely unfriendly fire and win the battle against all odds, “Sucker Punch” style.

Basically, it’s all about getting our groove back, staying in the game, and shining brighter now that we have some real world entertainment biz experience under our belts, and that can propel us even further than wide eyed naiveté.

My friend Bonnie Gillespie (casting director, author, acting career coach) introduced me to the work of Marie Forleo and Sally Hogshead who are kick ass women who have ignited a new fire under my butt.  They are branding and marketing mavens, and I’ve been watching all of their videos with the idea of applying what they are saying to my acting career as well as the new projects I’d like to produce in the next couple of years.  Not only that, but I’ve started to think about all of the other passions I have, and which one of those passions might make a good online business in the future.

In any case, I know I’m an entertainment biz “lifer” and could never turn my back on this marathon I’ve chosen to run, but now I’m seeing more possibilities and a more gorgeous horizon.  It just takes waking up every morning to that beautiful new day and committing myself to the journey all over again.

Like Steven Pressfield says in “Turning Pro,” (I’m paraphrasing here)… the professional recommits themselves every single day.

So with that, I challenge all of you who might be feeling the way some of my girlfriends and I have been feeling, to take a look deep inside.  If you are ready to move on and have a love for something other than the entertainment biz and are ready to experience that journey, I say do it!  Entertainment will always be here.  You can even start acting again when you’re eighty.

And if you know that right now, being an actor, or director, writer, producer, makeup artist or whatever other job it is you are doing right now, is the right path to be on, then strap up your boots and meet me on the road because that’s where I’ll be.

No choice is right and no choice is wrong, it’s only indecision and inaction that cripples us.

Until next time,

#xoxo hels

tweet me at: @helslevy

browse me at: helennasantoslevy.com

email me at: contacthelenna@gmail.com