Happy Thursday everyone. I posted the picture of the beautiful green grass because I thought maybe it would take my mind to a relaxing place. I was wrong. As I write this I have children all around me that dont care if mommy is sick. Not easy. I choose to stay positive and not let the chaos consume me. My house is a mess, dishes are dirty, my script is on hold, I have a fever and am trying to lay down however long I can, plus I have to be up every 5 seconds to help these kids with something. Stay positive. I'm grateful for my children, I'm grateful for my home, I'm grateful for hubby and that my sickness is a fever and not worse. I am thankful and I WILL stay positive.
People often ask me how I do it, being a mom and an actress. Well its hard. I have to have a lot of support. Let me be real for a second. I can give you the fluffy vague answer or I can be upfront with you and I think thats what I'm going to do.
I am a type A personality. what does that mean? Well type a people are sometimes looked at in a bad light but I see it as something that drives me and what has helped me be successful in things that I do. Type A people are competitive, impatient, ambitious, fast talking and aggressive. I'll talk a little bit about each behavior and how it pertains to me.
I am certainly a few of these things. I am competitive. As a child I was always competitive. I always wanted to do my best in anything that I did. Even in youth sports days where I would coach and take it seriously, you know that I am competitive. I dont think there is anything wrong with that. I'm not saying being a bad sport is ok because it is not. You strive to win in anything that you do, meaning you put in the work. As far as acting goes, I put in the work. Is it hard? yes. do I care? no. This is what separates people in the industry. There are the people who work at their craft and the people who sit around waiting for something to happen. Will you land everything that you audition for, no. This is where you learn to not be a bad sport. In every aspect of my personality I have learned to grow. As I have gotten older I have learned that everything isn't so black and white. You can be competitive and not be a bad sport. You dont have to be happy for the winner but there is no reason to sulk. Move on and try harder. There will always be someone better than you, I just hope that today it is me! haha! If not then I have more work to do. The training never ends!
Let's talk about Impatience. My younger self was tremendously impatient. While I do have that in my body I will say that children changed me. I am very patient with my children but I am not patient with myself. I need results NOW. In my weightloss journey I took it one day at a time but you better believe that I was watching that scale and seeing the transformation day by day. P.S. I know you aren't supposed to do that but I'm just being real. I am very impatient when it comes to me. In acting I feel like I need to know my lines ASAP and how I want to portray my character. The faster I can narrow that down, the faster I can bring a great performance to life! I always want to do my best and I don't want to take forever to do it. Again, in life I am very patient but professionally I need results now. Let me make something clear though, just because I am impatient does not mean that it reflects on my auditions. If i dont get a callback, that is ok. (good sport) But I will be damned if my audition doesn't go well because of something that I could have helped. If there is something crazy that happens in an audition then that is ok but if I should have been prepared and I'm not, well that wouldn't happen because I won't let it.
Ambitious. I am very ambitious. I put my ALL in everything that I do but the most important thing to me is to be a planner. I need to write down goals. If you write down goals you put them in the universe and you can make them happen. It is proven that writing goals down helps keep you focused and helps you actually achieve them. That is if you are putting in the work around them. Goals aren't just going happen and fall in your lap! That is where I start, I write down my goals. I look at my goals and ask myself what I have done to help myself out, have I done anything to hold myself back and what can I do to help myself out even further. Think outside the box. You have to think outside the box and work outside of your comfort zone. There are a lot of things that I didn't feel comfortable doing but it actually becomes great when you actually do it. I didn't feel comfortable with telling people that I wanted to be an actor. I didn't feel comfortable taking workshops with influential people. I didn't feel comfortable with making this blog. Well guess what, working outside of my comfort zone has helped me in so many ways. It has freed me. The little girl inside me is happy because I can finally do what I intended to do my whole life. I wish I would have had the courage to do it earlier.
fast talking. well. If you know me, you know I talk fast. Every time I do a voice over I say, let me try it one more time a little slower! haha! I know myself. I have learned to tone it down for sure, especially when talking to other professionals. If i get too excited though, it comes right back!
The last thing I wanted to talk about is the most important thing. Who watches your kids while you are gone? Well, this is why I say I'm a planner and a type a. I plan EVERYTHING. I have several people that I can ask to help when I have an audition. I have family, friends, locations that I can call so that I never have to say no because of childcare. I'm at the point now in my career that I do not do anything for free anymore because I just can't. I have to pay people because whether they want the money or not I feel bad! So in order for me to book a gig it needs to be paid only because it isn't fair to my support system to not have their back as they have mine.
Alright, well I have exerted all of my energy for the day writing this and I have to get snacks for these people! haha! The job of mommy never ends. I love it though and wouldn't want it any other way! Someone bring me some food!! haha! Thanks for the support as always guys!
- Alisha
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