Managing yourself and your emotions

Everyone I know who know who has been to drama school or knows an actor or a performer easily buys into the “drama” that exists in these environments and around the lives of performers.

But I have a theory.

If I took the corporate world as an example, there are rules; there is work place etiquette; there are guidelines outlined in our HR handbook. It isn’t often that you hear someone crying or shouting at a colleague in the office. It’s frowned upon. Being “professional” means putting work first and our emotions second. And that’s how most of the world lives their lives. Yes, we have family drama but blow-ups of epic proportions don’t happen nearly as often as they do on television. We are used to operating within a narrow emotional bandwidth.

Now take the performer, the actor, the singer, the creative. We live in a world where it is our JOB to explore, tap upon and express the emotional expanses of the human experience. It’s our job to evoke sorrow when Jean Valjean dies every night on “Les Miserables”; it’s our job to evoke unadulterated joy when the ABBA Megamix comes on at the end of “Mama Mia”. We are used to operating within a much wider emotional bandwidth.

Now what happens when these 2 worlds meet? In a word: “drama”.

So I’ve had to become extremely aware of my emotions and the way that I view the world, and be very careful about not imposing my world view on others. A big part of that is taking a step back, not reacting to everything that everyone says, listening and looking for what is possibly not being said rather than the words that are coming out of someone’s mouth. It involves choosing not to have a retort everytime someone says something I don’t agree with.

Many times, the drama happens within the creative community because people are used to a certain level of “truth”, which is actually an artificial environment, much like how the world on stage is - in many ways - an artificial environment. But it promotes a level of intimacy that most colleagues in the corporate never reach. And intimacy that is not founded on a true desire to connect with someone emotionally can be a recipe for disaster. Expectations are made and not met, trust is built and torn down in a day and ……. you guessed it - “drama” ensues.

Again, it’s about being aware of the environment. It’s not wrong. No one is wrong. It just is and drawing attention to it hopefully helps us control the one thing that we can in these situations: ourselves.

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My name is Eu Jin. I recently embarked on a career as a professional actor after 20 years in the corporate world. A big supporter of personal growth, I also dedicate time and energy in performing arts education, specifically in the arena of practical approaches to inner health because I believe that lays the groundwork for a sustainable career as an artiste. If you would like to find out more or share your thoughts, please leave me a message on the "Contact" page of my website. Thank you very much!

What does your art stand for?

What does my art stand for?

One of the reasons why it took me until my 40’s to pursue the performing arts as a “career” is because I needed the time to figure out what I wanted my art to stand for. It is the easiest thing in the world to get swept away by the fame game, by the possibility of millions of followers and the glamour of being “famous”. I mean, who hasn’t dreamt of standing in front of millions lapping up their adoration? And it is not to say that that isn’t important. Our egos are an intrinsic part of what drives us forward. But it’s not the only thing.

I primarily view any sort of fame in the context of a platform. The more people know my work, the bigger the platform to say what I want to the world and the larger the impact I can have. I am very lucky that the course of study I pursued was designed to give us the space to explore how we wanted to use our artistry to represent what we had to say to the world - and I took full advantage of it. I explored multiple avenues of expression - from the intellectual, to the emotional and spiritual, to the performative, to the physical … I told myself that if I was going to be a positive influence on the world, I needed to learn how the world wanted to be communicated to.

Because it’s not just about what I have to communicate, but whether I communicate with the intent to be understood.

I am very aware that I am at the very beginning of a new career, but I am very grateful for the clarity that I have in the paths I am pursuing now - in education, in coaching, in creating new work, in collaboration and in my work as an actor and singer. Of course they will change - and I work hard to make sure that I stay grounded in my motivations rather than get too attached to the avenue of expression.

The more I work to build the foundations, the more I am grounded in the belief that art can change the world. And I want my work to be a conduit, a mirror, a catalyst and a tool.

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My name is Eu Jin. I recently embarked on a career as a professional actor after 20 years in the corporate world. A big supporter of personal growth, I also dedicate time and energy in performing arts education, specifically in the arena of practical approaches to inner health because I believe that lays the groundwork for a sustainable career as an artiste. If you would like to find out more or share your thoughts, please leave me a message on the "Contact" page of my website. Thank you very much!

What do you do when you're waiting? You work!

Waiting is an important part of any performer’s journey. The spaces in between - those are the spaces that need attention because that is where all the work is done, that is where the foundations are strengthened, that is where stories are born, that is where you can see clearly.

Waiting is hard. An actor’s life mostly comprises waiting for auditions, waiting for the results of auditions, etc … All sorts of emotions bubble to the surface: expectation, ego, doubt and even panic can arise when you’re waiting for news.

So I buckle down and I work. I’m not just talking about “putting food on the table” work here; I’m talking about “feeding the creative monster” work. So while I’m waiting to hear if I get cast in this brilliant show, I’m planning a development workshop for my new show, I’m creating a new central character named Jackie whose story intertwins all the other women’s, I’m learning a new monologue, I’m working with friends on their own Inner Health Practice, I’m scribing my most recent voice lessons so I can extract the specific exercises I want to work on to strengthen my muscles when I have to create thin-fold sounds, I’m exercising and I’m planning a holiday.

And a few times a week, I re-visit the show I’m waiting to hear about and I’m listening to the songs and reading a version of the book I found online.

What I’m doing is creating a continuous stream of small chunks of work comprises of singular tasks and also things that are on-going. This way, I’m playing the long game. I’m not relying on one particular opportunity to “make it” for me. I’m preparing myself for the other opportunities that are going to come my way and when they do show up, I’ll be ready.

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My name is Eu Jin. I recently embarked on a career as a professional actor after 20 years in the corporate world. A big supporter of personal growth, I also dedicate time and energy in performing arts education, specifically in the arena of practical approaches to inner health because I believe that lays the groundwork for a sustainable career as an artiste. If you would like to find out more or share your thoughts, please leave me a message on the "Contact" page of my website. Thank you very much!

It takes a village ... really it does!!

I have spent the last 3 weeks in an immersive audition environment and looking back on it now, there has been an entire village that has supported me. If I had to put a figure to the number of people who have helped me during this process, I would easily say there were 8 people who had a direct hand in helping me and another 15 to 20 who provided emotional support.

So it does take a village.

There was someone who helped me with my accent work for the character, there was someone who helped me with the song, there was someone who helped me understand the physical style of the movement in the show, there was someone who managed the administrative requirements of auditions, there were a few who helped me with acting … and then there were the countless messages of encouragement that I received throughout the process. All this … because they were just invested in my success.

At the end of the day - yes … I know that I’m the one who stands in front of the audition panel and I’m the one who has to deliver. But I stand on the shoulders of everyone who has supported me. Thing is, I didn’t feel the pressure to deliver FOR them. Rather their support buoyed me, lifting me up and gifted a sense of freedom and joy.

And yes … I had a great time in the audition room.

So … who is in your village?

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My name is Eu Jin. I recently embarked on a career as a professional actor after 20 years in the corporate world. A big supporter of personal growth, I also dedicate time and energy in performing arts education, specifically in the arena of practical approaches to inner health because I believe that lays the groundwork for a sustainable career as an artiste. If you would like to find out more or share your thoughts, please leave me a message on the "Contact" page of my website. Thank you very much!