A Change is as good as a rest.
I'm having a much busier year than I suspected as looking at the date of the last post in my blog, I find it's over a month ago. It's good to know. We are often busier than we feel and yet, in a week which has consisted of delicious catch up lunches, a boys evening out and a trip to the theatre, leisure has held the upper hand for the last seven days.
"A change is as good as a rest"- one of those phrases I can hear ringing out in the Yorkshire tones of my mother. Working as a shopkeeper in Thrybergh, Rotherham, in the two shops my parents had attached to our house, my mother had little chance for a rest. Yet she was rather good at making sure variety was the spice of her life. Different interests, and never one to settle into a routine.
2018 has brought changes to my life. Adding another notch to the birthday stick earlier this month, I well know one just shouldn't carry on doing what one does for the sake of it. My wonderful partner became a leading director of a company based in Birmingham and started his job last December. A change in our domestic arrangements has ensued with him sometimes being away from Monday to Friday. This has given me the opportunity for several midweek visits up to Brum, and has made sure we work hard at enjoying our time together at home in London at the weekends.
I also stepped down from my responsibilities at the Actors Centre. I'm rather amazed at the time this has freed up in my diary. I wasn't aware that I did so much, but I'm glad to have the chance to focus my time in a new direction. Some of it I am keen to continue using to work with younger actors to help guide and mentor people as they step out into what is a difficult profession. I had great chats with the delightful Sarah Berger at the So-And-So Arts Club, and in early May I will be delivering a new workshop for the Actors Guild. The great by-product of this, however, has been that I have more time for my acting.
While still working for several corporate clients, I have blocked out fewer days each month for this work which has given my agent much more control over my availability and as a result I've been able to say yes to more acting work.
Changing how you run your life is something we all need to do constantly. Only this morning I had an email from a very successful young actor who hit the ground running when he left drama school and spent a lot of time with the RSC and The Globe doing very well indeed. Over the last two years things have quietened down somewhat, but now rather than worry about that, he has focused his best efforts into another area and qualified as a personal trainer. This is finding a focus for his energies and creativity, and I'm sure that as a result, he'll walk into audition and interview rooms in a much stronger position. Not reliant on the result of the meeting or desperate for the work, but a functioning focused individual who happens to be interested in the job they have.
I'm hoping that's how I came across in a meeting I went up last Friday. It was that rare thing - a job I really really wanted. Seven days on I haven't heard anything, but I'll cope. The changes effected in my lifestyle over the last couple of months are settling in and allowing me freedom and enjoyment which hitherto had become a little stale.
So take a moment and make a change. Perhaps it's just doing one extra thing purely for pleasure each week. Take up a new hobby or interest. What about changing the days when you do your non-acting job or perhaps it's just even sitting down to write and be a little bit more organised about your career.
As is so often my mother was right. A change is a good as a rest...and gets more done too.
"A change is as good as a rest"- one of those phrases I can hear ringing out in the Yorkshire tones of my mother. Working as a shopkeeper in Thrybergh, Rotherham, in the two shops my parents had attached to our house, my mother had little chance for a rest. Yet she was rather good at making sure variety was the spice of her life. Different interests, and never one to settle into a routine.
2018 has brought changes to my life. Adding another notch to the birthday stick earlier this month, I well know one just shouldn't carry on doing what one does for the sake of it. My wonderful partner became a leading director of a company based in Birmingham and started his job last December. A change in our domestic arrangements has ensued with him sometimes being away from Monday to Friday. This has given me the opportunity for several midweek visits up to Brum, and has made sure we work hard at enjoying our time together at home in London at the weekends.
I also stepped down from my responsibilities at the Actors Centre. I'm rather amazed at the time this has freed up in my diary. I wasn't aware that I did so much, but I'm glad to have the chance to focus my time in a new direction. Some of it I am keen to continue using to work with younger actors to help guide and mentor people as they step out into what is a difficult profession. I had great chats with the delightful Sarah Berger at the So-And-So Arts Club, and in early May I will be delivering a new workshop for the Actors Guild. The great by-product of this, however, has been that I have more time for my acting.
While still working for several corporate clients, I have blocked out fewer days each month for this work which has given my agent much more control over my availability and as a result I've been able to say yes to more acting work.
Changing how you run your life is something we all need to do constantly. Only this morning I had an email from a very successful young actor who hit the ground running when he left drama school and spent a lot of time with the RSC and The Globe doing very well indeed. Over the last two years things have quietened down somewhat, but now rather than worry about that, he has focused his best efforts into another area and qualified as a personal trainer. This is finding a focus for his energies and creativity, and I'm sure that as a result, he'll walk into audition and interview rooms in a much stronger position. Not reliant on the result of the meeting or desperate for the work, but a functioning focused individual who happens to be interested in the job they have.
I'm hoping that's how I came across in a meeting I went up last Friday. It was that rare thing - a job I really really wanted. Seven days on I haven't heard anything, but I'll cope. The changes effected in my lifestyle over the last couple of months are settling in and allowing me freedom and enjoyment which hitherto had become a little stale.
So take a moment and make a change. Perhaps it's just doing one extra thing purely for pleasure each week. Take up a new hobby or interest. What about changing the days when you do your non-acting job or perhaps it's just even sitting down to write and be a little bit more organised about your career.
As is so often my mother was right. A change is a good as a rest...and gets more done too.
 |
| A boys night out |
Comments
Post a Comment