Student Blog: Let's Love Ourselves!

Self-care, an umbrella term that encompasses a multitude of healing methods for any and everyone, is often neglected in the performance community. It has become common practice for us to please our colleagues as we please an audience, yet we struggle to please ourselves as individuals. Following the journey to loving ourselves as much as we love the arts is so incredibly crucial to having a happy and healthy career. I believe that transparency helps many people feel seen and understood, especially as a performer. Therefore, I am going to share some personal insights with you and offer tips on how I learned to take care of myself.

As a Senior in college, I have had my fair share of learning experiences, but the most important is one I just recently discovered. Keeping up with your personal life is just as important as keeping up with your professional life and allowing them to overlap is not necessarily a good idea. On campus, I am involved with so many organizations within the Theatre Department, so it truly becomes my “life”, but too many of my colleagues were getting involved with my personal life, which meant there was no break - no separation - when I so desparately needed it. My mental health began to plummet because I truly felt as if I had no privacy, but after hours of stewing, I finally decided to take that leap and learn how to separate the two. The moment I determined the clear separation between personal and professional tasks, I instantaneously felt better. My sense of privay returned, my social battery increased, and my overall mood surrounding coming to work and classes everyday shifted to be more positive. Now, I could sit here and delve into the ways I managed to separate the two lifestyles for myself, but at the end of the day, it’s different for every person; my methods may make you feel stressed or isolated, which is the opposite outcome we are looking for here! My suggestion to you, dear reader, is to take a journey of self-discovery and study yourself! Examine what you and your body need and how you can comfortably achieve that. I am determined that you will be able to find results to tackle whatever you are struggling with.

Another method of de-stressing and finding a means to care for myself is having a trusted individual you can talk to about your obstacles. This trusted person does not have to be a therapist or a family member, but can be a professor, a friend, a colleague, a stage manager, etc; it solely depends on what kind of advice you crave. Talking to people is hard, though that may sound taboo for theatre kids as we are so extroverted, but truly connecting with someone and communicating is hard for anyone. I am actually an introvert and prefer to save my social battery for performing and managing front of house, so allowing myself the vulnerability to open up to a trusted individual was very difficult, but once I bit the bullet and opened up, I found the advice that I needed, not necessarily the advice I wanted, and I have felt so much better about myself and how I operate throughout existence. Having someone hear your worries and offering an outside observation can give you another paradigm of yourself, which truly can change anything! However, if you have a hard time speaking to people or do not feel you have someone you can turn to, I suggest keeping a journal or a diary. I used to have one (but I suck at keeping up with it so I quit lol), and it was always relieving to get all of my anxieties onto a piece of paper. Finding a de-stressor meant my performances were sharper and more focused, my audience engagement was more attentive and irritated me less, and I was able to commit to myself, and theatre, better than before.

At the end of the day, you know yourself better than anyone else, so whatever healthy coping mechanism works for you is completely valid! As a community, we need to be here for each other and helping each other through hard times makes more of an impact that one might believe. Taking the time to analyze yourself and determine what you need in any situation at any time is encouraged and should absolutely be respected. Theatre is not theatre without the people. You are not you without...well...you!! Take care of yourself and the joys of theatre will come following right behind all of the self-love and appreciation you have in your heart. <3