wishing well and well-wishing
My best college friend and I used to keep wish books. They weren't diaries; they weren't journals. They weren't even really goals, per se. It was a place where we wrote down everything from "I want to play [this particualr character] in [this particular play]," to "I want a house with a swimming pool," to "I want to learn to fix my car," to "I want to kiss [so-and-so] on the mouth," to "I want to win the lottery." Some of our "I wants" were silly, fun and airy; some reflected the sweet intense passion of youth; some of them actually did turn into goals. We crossed them out once we'd achieved them, but that wasn't really the point. The point was brainstorming and dreaming without any kind of self-censorship. It was silly and giggly and yet somehow galvanizing.
I talked to Lynnie recently, and she mentioned that she still had her book, and 12 years later (!), she was still adding to it. Oh my gosh, I thought, how cool! To have a record of whimsical wishes from when we were mere babies. I, of course, not only hadn't kept it up, but I could not tell you where my book ended up.
But I'm going to start it up again. It'll be a chronicle of daydreams, which is probably a more accurate snapshot of any of us than our day-to-day activities could ever be.
Also ... here's another list I recommend. When you're really really busy in life, and you think to yourself, "If only I had time to ..." --- write down whatever *it* is. Keep a running list. Then when you haven't worked in awhile (an affliction common to a lot of actors), and you're thinking you'll never work again (even more common), or you just split up with a lover or partner, and 24 hours in a day seems like a ridiculous amount of time to fill ... look at your list, pick the thing that appeals to you the most, and do it. This has come in handy for me several times to stave off melancholy and borderline depression. It's such a boon for me to realize that I have this incredibly full life and desires outside of theatre. Sometimes I forget that.
I talked to Lynnie recently, and she mentioned that she still had her book, and 12 years later (!), she was still adding to it. Oh my gosh, I thought, how cool! To have a record of whimsical wishes from when we were mere babies. I, of course, not only hadn't kept it up, but I could not tell you where my book ended up.
But I'm going to start it up again. It'll be a chronicle of daydreams, which is probably a more accurate snapshot of any of us than our day-to-day activities could ever be.
Also ... here's another list I recommend. When you're really really busy in life, and you think to yourself, "If only I had time to ..." --- write down whatever *it* is. Keep a running list. Then when you haven't worked in awhile (an affliction common to a lot of actors), and you're thinking you'll never work again (even more common), or you just split up with a lover or partner, and 24 hours in a day seems like a ridiculous amount of time to fill ... look at your list, pick the thing that appeals to you the most, and do it. This has come in handy for me several times to stave off melancholy and borderline depression. It's such a boon for me to realize that I have this incredibly full life and desires outside of theatre. Sometimes I forget that.
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