Massage makes me feel good, acting makes me feel alive.
This was an epiphany that hit last month. It might not mean a lot to you, but it suddenly put a focus on my life that I hadn’t had before. You see, I was constantly at war with myself that one career choice had to come before the other. I never saw them working hand in hand. I never saw that both sustained me in more than one way.
For years I have waffled between the two, thinking if one career didn’t feed me, then maybe the other would. I wasn’t trying to see the whole Mind-Body-Soul picture. This past year, I haven’t done much acting. What I have done is worry so much about ALL THE THINGS that I just kept working any job that I could find, and acting kept falling further and further behind. I truly forgot about that whole Feeling Alive sensation.
This past month, I was given the wonderful opportunity to act in a pilot of a web-series called, “Tales of the Sword” Created by my dear friend Monica Hafer, the series will have each episode deal with women in different combat situations. Swords, brawling, what-have-you; there could be blood. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Monica hired my friend and fighting mentor, Jan Bryant to be our fight choreographer/coordinator. I hadn’t acted in anything for the better part of the year, nor really had a role to dig into for at least a year. I was doubly challenged to memorize lines and a fight. I was freaked out!
myself, Jan Bryant, and Eric Hunter
My little inner critic couldn’t shut up about how lousy I would be, how horrible I look, how I’m working too much to do justice to the role, how I wasn’t working enough just to pay bills. I found I was stressing about everything in my life. But somewhere, one night while rehearsing, I felt invigorated; electricity ran through me that I hadn’t felt in a long time, it overcame me and it didn’t leave. Oh yeah, I love being an actor! I need acting and being creative in my life as much as I need a survival job or three. Maybe even more.
Hans Pasricha and myself by
The purpose of this article? I want you to realize, my fellow Creative Soul, that you need your creativity and your passion as much as you need a paycheck. You don’t need one without the other. I can be a massage therapist by day and an actor by day as well. For me, if I don’t have both in my life, I’m wandering around more lost than I want to be. Don’t let fear guide you at any point on this journey. It’s totally easy, as fear loves to lead you away and she’s a feisty little inner demon. Yes, you can have your creativity and passion, as well as a paycheck. If it all comes from one place – fantastic. If it comes from 5 places – fantastic. Just make sure you’re feeding yourself as well as your heart. I advise you to find what makes you feel alive. Keep pursuing that as much as any other dream.