A Storm is Coming
A storm is coming.
If you have read my apocalyptic blog on the Four Horsemen of your Acting Career, you’ll know that the horseman known as DISTRACTION comes in many different disguises. One of them is the STORM.
The STORM is a natural disaster that comes into your life and destroys everything. This can be a serious medical problem, a financial disaster, a death in the family – anything that causes unbearable damage and is very likely to deflect even the most committed actor from their career.
The STORM is the type of thing that is completely out of our control, and you will feel justifiably helpless in its wake.
However, while you can’t control the storm, you can prepare for it, and you can choose how to respond to it. Being ready is the important part.
You can get the right type of insurance, you can choose not to build your house on a flood plane, you can make sure that you have a disaster plan, you can prepare a go-bag – a kit with 2-3 days supplies, clothes etc that you could pick up and put in the car if the storm keeps heading towards your home. You can prepare a first aid kit. You can learn to swim. You can have adequate security in your home so that you feel confident leaving your home so that looters won’t be a problem.
You can’t fight the storm, it’s bigger than you, it’s overwhelming. You can panic. Freeze. Frozen by fear, or in shell shock. Or you can move. You can get updates on the weather. You can be prepared to leave if you need to. You can plan different ways out of the city. You can choose different routes. You can use google maps to check traffic to avoid the exodus. You can grab your go-bag and head for higher ground and out of the path of the storm.
You have no control over the natural disasters in your life. But you can control how you respond to them. No one will blame you for the storm in your life, but if you want the career you deserve, you do have to learn to overcome it.
In my career coaching sessions, I ask my students to list the potential obstacles to their success. Then I ask them to plan, to prepare to avoid or manage potential disasters. When a disaster arises, I ask them to go back to their plan and start taking action to counter the effects of the storm.
A storm is coming. As Hamlet says: “If it be now, ’t is not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.”