Gratitude

It’s that time of year where we talk about gratitude more than ever. This year, I honestly don’t feel much in the mood for gratitude. I’m just not feeling the most grateful. Instead I feel spent. Tired. Exhausted. And sad. OF COURSE there are many things in my life I can be grateful for like a roof over my head, good food & friends, my incredible assistant Nathalia helping to keep all of this going, but quite honestly it’s been a sh*t year for me. I’m not open to sharing all the personal gory details, but let’s just say I’ve become acutely in tune with the word “grief” this past year. I’m not asking for sympathy. I just want you to know, if you’re not feeling the most grateful this year, that’s OK. 

But despite all those feelings I have, there are small things I can find that I am deeply grateful for – my mom’s smile when she’s acting silly pretending she can still ski, my husband’s quiet knowing when I’m in desperate need of a hug, my mom’s cat finally trusting me to hold her… gratitude for the small micro moments is more than doable, but gratitude overall feels hard. 

So, if you’re feeling stuck or frustrated in your career and feeling like there’s not a whole lot to be grateful for right now, let’s just stop and look at the micro moments we can find.Maybe it’s a breakthrough you had in an acting class this year or finding a great new teacher, perhaps it’s an experience you had on set and feeling like you were really able to give it your all, maybe it’s a new relationship with a casting office who called you in multiple times or it’s finishing your short film that you wrote and produced yourself. Whatever it is, don’t down play it. Allow yourself to feel proud and grateful for that experience, person or moment in time. 

And if you did have a “big win” this year – a first co-star booking, securing a new great rep you love, testing for a show – let’s reflect back on that moment. We are so quick to rush them and go onto panicking about the next thing. Can we sit in our gratitude? Can we express gratitude to a particular person who helped us achieve that goal? 

Then, I want to ask you, are there 1-3 people in your life that helped you on your career journey that you’d like to express gratitude towards? It can be someone you met this past year or years ago. It can be someone you talk to regularly or haven’t spoken to in forever. Can you express gratitude to them?

Some ideas:

Is there a CD who you’ve never actually met, but they’ve called you in for multiple things this year who you’d like to thank? Is there a director you worked with once who gave you confidence cause they said one kind encouraging thing to you while you were on set? Is there a teacher who really believes in you and helped you gain confidence in your skills? Is there a casting associate who booked you on your first job who you never really took the time to thank? 

What would happen if you wrote to that person and expressed your gratitude? I’ll answer my own question with a quote, 

“Whatever you appreciate and give thanks for will increase in your life.”

– Sanaya Roman

Meaning giving thanks for those auditions, breakthroughs, bookings and great relationships will help to create more. Perhaps in expressing true gratitude to a CD,  teacher or director you will strengthen your connection and who knows, it might even increase your opportunities. If nothing else, it will make you feel good, and in my experience, figuring out how to feel good in your career as an actor is half the battle. 

“But how do I get in touch with them, Jenna?” 

There are many ways you could reach out! 

Email is the most obvious way. If you don’t have the person’s email address, ask around. Maybe one of your friends has the address or your rep. You could even send an email to a rep of a CD/director/producer and ask them to pass it along to that person for you. 

You can also reach people via social media –  IG, Twitter, LinkedIn – there are so many possibilities!

If you are reaching out in true and authentic gratitude, there is no reason why it should feel icky. Who doesn’t love to be thanked? 

I dare you to try it and let me know how it goes!