It happens to all of us. As humans, we’re biologically wired to respond strongly and quickly to fear in the name of self-preservation (think tiger chasing you in the underbrush). Often, in 21st-century North America, the fears we’re confronted with aren’t anything even close to being life-threatening.

But we still respond as though they are.

Fear vs. Love

Two years ago I wrote a post about my own discovery that fear was influencing the choices I made while scrolling through my Facebook feed. I realized that, as much as I disliked seeing people I know and love defending the NRA (something unconscionable to me), my own fears provoked me to rant about them privately to my husband (I wrote about it HERE).

So here I was, feeling fearful of what the NRA supporters were trying to accomplish, and there they were, fearful of what non-supporters like me were trying to do. Everyone was completely afraid, and most of us still are!

I was amazed to discover just how much influence my fear had over something as seemingly mundane as my Facebook preferences.

Which begs the question: With so much fear-mongering going on during the election process this year (“ISIS is going to get us… big banks are trying to screw us…  politicians are trying to dupe us… Trump is a racist… Hillary is a liar… etc., etc.”), how do you choose to respond?

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It’s pretty much guaranteed that anyone who decides to be an actor will at some point hear the words, “If you can do anything besides acting, do it!”

Sometimes those words come from an acting coach, a parent or even a complete stranger who thinks they know all about how an actor’s life operates.

The intention is to be helpful, of course. Anyone who says this to a young actor thinks they’re offering good advice that will help the other person steer clear of a lifetime of struggling to make ends meet. But usually (at least, in my experience), the phrase only serves to strengthen the artist’s resolve that, yes indeed, the only thing they can do in life is be an actor!

Well, you know what? I call bullshit on this whole thing.

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If you follow me on Instagram you’ve likely noticed that I recently spent some time in Africa with my husband, Scott. I was so excited to visit our friends who are traveling the world, and this was a trip that both Scott and I were really looking forward to!

But, like most things in life, our travel plans didn’t go exactly as expected (gulp). Here’s how it all went down...

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If I told you that in three steps, you could guarantee your success as an actor, would you do it?

Considering how turbulent an acting career can be, my guess is that if you knew there were three things you could do to make 100% sure you were successful in this arena, you’d do them!

In fact, what I’m about to share with you isn’t revolutionary. These ideas have been around for a while, but I think it’s important to keep sharing them because even though they’re floating through our collective actor consciousness, so many of us choose not to live by them.

So here we go. Follow these three steps to guarantee your success as an actor.

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Last week we started exploring the conversation of whether or not an actor needs to continue to train through his or her professional career (read Part I of this series HERE).

This week, I’m taking the conversation a little deeper with my guest contributors from the Chicago acting scene and asking, “How can Chicago actors keep up with actors in New York and Los Angeles?” 

Training is Viewed Differently in Chicago than it is in NY and LA

Jimmy Carrane, Performer, Teacher and Author: “I took an on-camera class years ago, and in that class we had an actor who was in the touring company of Wicked when it was playing in Chicago. The guy had a big part in the show, and he was taking an on-camera class on his night off. He was similar to many actors from New York or LA, where it’s just part of the acting culture that you should always take classes to keep getting better. Chicago actors don’t think like that.” 

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