The best friend mindset

Our minds are really incredible things. I have been reading a lot of articles lately about the difference between successful vs non-successful people, or even hot vs not hot girls (horrible title, but the article was really good) and they all seem to imply that a huge part of it is due to a shift in mindset. Which means that I can work as hard as I want, but if I don’t think I’m good enough and I don’t think I’ll make it, then I probably won’t. Unless I am auditioning for a really shy person with absolutely no self-confidence. Then I would nail it. But, as far as my life in general is concerned, I would much rather be the successful and confident person, so I am working on making the shift.

Carolyne and I are kind of working on it together, planning to do all kinds of exciting things that we don’t normally do, which would force us to get out and interact with people. We will still be having lots of froyo and going to the movies, I hope, but I am definitely noticing a shift in our goals, which used to be entirely acting career related, but now encompass life goals and awesome vlogs about jewellery.

Tuesday’s class with Suzanna was smaller than it usually is, which always means we will go over. Since we think we have extra time, we always get to talking and sharing career advice and end up taking longer than if we had 2 more people to go through. Still, I love the discussions about background work, agents and brunch places 🙂

We only did our new scenes, so I was Julia Roberts’ character from August Osage County. I always feel intimidated when it is a big role like that, so I tried to work really hard on the lines and know where they were coming from, but then I forgot my line in the first take and spent the next ones trying so hard to mess up the lines that I forgot to live the life and connect. It got better by the third take, but I think I would have to work on it and go again to do it justice.

July 1st was Canada Day, but it was also the launch of Camp Nanowrimo, which I think I already explained is another opportunity to write a book in a month, but this time you get to decide how many words you think it should be, instead of having to get to 50 000. I was slightly ambitious, and put 75 000 as my word goal, so I have spent most of my weekend writing to get there. I also binged on a few netflix shows, but made it to 18 000 words so far, so I think I’m doing pretty good.

After finishing the new season of Orange is the New Black, I figured I would catch up on the last two episodes of The Mindy Project, and was excited to see Laverne Cox in one of them. She was a slightly over the top stylist, but she said something I found really meaningful. Mindy was being really hard on herself and thought she was fat and unattractive, so Laverne’s character pointed out that she would never talk to her best friend like that. She would be supportive and loving and tell her she looks great. Then she reminded Mindy that the person in the mirror is her best friend. Mind blown. And back to my theory about the mind shift. I need to stop bringing myself down and talk to myself like I would my best friend.

You get a lot of chance to binge on netflix when you are trying to reset your sleep cycle to prepare yourself for a few night shoots in a row. And sometimes, you get a message from a guy who saw the picture you posted to say you were available for said night shoot. A guy who is filming a pilot and thinks you would be great for it. Meeting with him is one of the many fun things I have planned for this coming week. I also heard back from the guy I had auditioned for a while back, who sent me a script and asked if there were any roles that interest me in it. Looks like I will be spending a few days on set at the end of July 🙂

“If you carry yourself with confidence, and you move through the world with your head held high and your shoulders thrown back, you don’t need to be a double-zero.”

-Gabrielle Union on body confidence