Acting : Throwing out the old, embracing the new by Suzanne Bronson

Hi, Suzanne Bronson. I'm glad you've found your self worth! I've told myself things like "No one's gonna like this [script]" and "you won't find a producer." I've doubted my self worth as a creative. Something that helps when that happens is rereading my work to remind myself how talented I am.

Thank you Maurice Vaughan for your uplifting and encouraging words.

You're welcome, Suzanne Bronson. You deserve all those things, and I'm looking forward to seeing the movies and shows you act in!

Stand up ovation clapping from the sides here for you Suzanne!! I wholeheartedly back and support you in declaring you are worthy of having a successful acting career and a good life!!! 110 %. Sounds like fruitful times for you if you managed to finally slay that 'i'm not worthy' lie. I admire your vulnerability in sharing this here. Being a therapist I do quite a lot of navel-gazing so have a list of my own :) One that's on my mind these days is not trusting in my own power. This affects acting because I end up playing 'small' or sabotaging myself when it is my chance to shine. Realising this actually made me feel hopeful because it means i can change that belief. Curious to hear if this resonates for others.

I appreciate you Alexandra Stevens I imagine there are many actors/artists out there who can relate to self sabotage. Is it fear of success or fear of being vulnerable? Would love to know what others have to say.

I get that Erik David I am making joy my number one priority. Self compassion is something I am still learning. I am getting better at it. We need to unconditional love for ourselves. When I start to feel overwhelmed, I remind myself to take a step back, breathe, and give myself some loving kindness in the moment. I totally agree. It is up to me to decide to choose joy in every moment, because it will not come from something external.

"It's all good, even when it's bad." That's the key. Not to judge what happens, just accept it. "Everything that happens is for my greater good."

Suzanne Bronson surprisingly to me, I fairly recently discovered that it was a fear of success, being visible and being 'big' rather than a fear of failure, which I had thought. Turns out i have a belief that being 'big' is unsafe....

Suzanne Bronson whenever these feelings of worthlessness and doubts appear acknowledge them then say to yourself "Ants be gone!" and after you begin catching these sub conscious negative thoughts you say "Ants be gone and leave me alone" Ants is short for Automatic Negative Thoughts, I lived under an ant hill for many years as a result of my mentally ill father saying the things you mentioned "I will never make it, I am a nobody, success is for other people. I'm not worthy of love and happiness. Ants. Start noticing when the old ants come crashing over your positive thought. Ants be gone! Like a mantra, repeated every time the old pattern emerges. I very rarely get them anymore and when I catch them it's "Ants be gone!" Works very well. Keep on creating and set the ant traps so they die seconds after they appear!

Alexandra Stevens I struggled with this fear of success myself being a star or world known but self doubt, as I mentioned above to Suzanne Bronson "ANTS" Automatic Negative Thinking" can be wiped out completely and fairly quickly by simply recognizing their arrival then repeating the mantra "Ants be gone!!" and they vanish as quick as they surface from the old subconscious.

Pat Savage that is wise advice. As they say, awareness is the first step to change. The hardest part is probably committing to that as a practice.

Thank you for your input Pat Savage Yes, I am well aware of the ANTS as my therapist still reminds me occasionally, "Suzanne, that's an ANT." I give myself a hug and say, "I forgive you. Thank you for the experience." I find giving myself compassion and love is a better way to handle the ANTS then telling them to shoo.

There are several words to take care of the problem, "Git er done" and only look forward! To create for the real world you have to take a step back, use your experience good and bad then play with the dreams your brain comes up with during it reorganizing period during "REM " stage of sleep.

While I agree with you Erik David it's not on topic. My post is about changing the narrative. Do you have a limiting belief that you used to tell yourself and how did you overcome that to get to where you are now?

Suzanne:

I’ve been reflecting on the role of luck in the success of artists — and, really, in life as a whole. I came across an author who suggested that the larger your network, the greater your chances of turning your vision into reality. That idea struck me deeply.

My “old self” has passed in many ways, but before I let it go completely, I realized that the market — the product, the stories I see — is all I can see. This story, that story… in the end, it feels as though all stories are connected, almost like there’s “one story to rule them all.”

Not to get too metaphysical, but I’ve also realized that the “new me” still wants to hold onto some of the “old me” — to play with those parts again, to weave them into the work in a fresh way. When constructing characters and fleshing out a scene — whether in a three-act structure, or even four — the key is to build a framework that allows the emotions of the characters to resonate. If you do that, audiences and producers alike will connect with what’s on the page.

In a sense, they’re all human stories, unfolding in a “flip-fold” way, sometimes only passing in the background, yet still helping an actor, writer, or artist move forward in their career. After all, all the world’s a stage, and men and women are merely players. Or, as another favorite line goes: “There are eight million stories in the Naked City; this has been one of them.” (Unless, of course, you’re talking about Naked Lunch, which is a very different — but fascinating — trip down the back alleys of “Main Street.”)

Everyone gets butterflies in their stomach; the trick is teaching them to fly in formation. So, buck up, bunky! Enjoy the ride. Look back only to gather material that fuels the future — and let your characters, not you, carry the voice. Disguise the author, and the acclaim will come through the depth and insight of your writing.

The journey I have been on is reaching a crossing to the business side of the project to project my work.

Thank you so much for your comment — I really appreciate it.

My journey so far has brought me to a crossroads where I’m beginning to step into the business side of things, learning how to present and project my work beyond the creative process itself. It’s been both challenging and exciting, and I’m grateful for the support along the way

Thank you so much for sharing this, Suzanne Bronson, your vulnerability here is incredibly moving and a reminder of why community matters so much in a creative life. So many of us start out with those same quiet doubts running in the background, and it’s powerful to see someone name them and then rewrite the story for themselves.

For me, one of the biggest limiting beliefs I had to let go of was the idea that my worth was tied only to my output, how much I wrote, produced, or achieved. If I wasn’t “achieving,” I thought I was failing. Over time, I’ve learned to shift that into: my worth exists whether I’m producing or not, and the process itself: learning, growing, experimenting, is just as valuable as the finished product.

I love that you’re inviting this conversation. It’s so important that we normalize not just the highs of creative work but the lows and the self-doubt too.

What a great insight John Gostomski and Erik David . As you can see, we are all more alike than different. This creative work that we do, reflects life. I'm amazed at how many acting lessons, I actually apply to real life as well. The point here is we all learned to reframe those limiting core beliefs and create new unlimited core beliefs. Yes, Life is a process. Like you, John, sometimes things I thought I dealt with come up to the surface again. Those dreaded ANTS I must step on.

You're welcome Ashley Smith I think this conversation shows how we are connected. There is only love.

I have known many people who define their worth by their paycheck. Or how successful their project is. I'm glad you have come to see you're worth is you. Just you, Ashley. :)

So Alexandra Stevens how can you turn that belief around? What can you tell yourself instead? You're a therapist so I am sure you have some ideas as to what the core of believing 'big' is unsafe comes from.

Suzanne Bronson firstly I agree with Ashley in appreciating your willingness to make yourself vulnerable and your post has got quite a response. Just goes to show that, as you said, we're all of us human and have vulnerabilities despite our differences. How can I turn my belief around? Well firstly having the awareness of the belief. Next, recognising when I do 'shrink' myself. Lastly, leaning into the 'big'. It's just a new neural pathway, my nervous system just needs to catch up and be able to hold my 'big-ness'. Since i'm not currently I experiment with this in my day-to-day life, for example imagining myself further along than I currently am in my career. This play -acting works with the part of the brain that doesn't know the difference between reality and fantasy. So I also agree with you Suzanne that we can apply what we learn through acting to our day to day life.

I love it Alexandra Stevens Yes, act "as if" it has already come to be.