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The Sacrifice for Acting

What are some sacrifices I made to focus on my acting career?

By Jade LastimosaPublished 5 years ago 7 min read
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Becoming an actor in this day and age is difficult. Not everyone will get it and perceive you as not thinking "practical." Who in their right mind wants to do it? I love a challenge and I tell myself, as long as I know I choose not to stop, I'll be fine. But what cost does it have on my lifestyle?

I was truly a high maintenance type of guy. Like what I said in my last story, I explained that I had to figure out my world on my own, I wanted to somewhat fit into a place I felt part of, to be accepted. I know this may go against my belief of not seeking validation, but at some point we were, or I was. I eventually learned I didn't need it. But yes, I was a high maintenance BMW that needed specific care and needs, to "feel" like I am taking the steps to my goals. Before the year of 2019 had begun, I have fully decided to "sacrifice" many things in my life to get to where I wanted to be. It may sound insane to many, but it truly helps. I found myself more clear minded about what needs to be done, no distractions, and no drama. So here are some of the things I gave up, to achieve my goals as an actor.

1. Work

I didn't give up work entirely. I just work less. Most of us, we like to prioritize our bills first. I get it—bills need to be paid, I don't. I am responsible enough to know that I do have them, and when the time comes, I can pay them off. But, my priority is never to just pay bills. I do make sure that I save enough to pay the essentials in surviving. This mindset is only temporary. What I do have is the motivation and ambition to make things happen. So, I live with what is needed to survive, and the rest goes towards my acting career.

Utilize your work as a supplement towards your career as an actor. Realize you are your own business. You are the product. Become high maintenance, in a way that allows you to focus on what is "needed" to achieve your career goals. Don't buy those expensive shoes, or go to fancy dinners. The experience is amazing, but reward yourself when you accomplished certain points of your goals.

As an actor, we must find flexibility in our schedules to attend auditions, rehearsals, and shoot dates. These times can be at the most random. I woke up one morning and had a rushed audition two hours after my serving shift has begun. I had no way of just leaving to go to the audition, and no way to call in sick, because I was already at work. I started to panic only because if I had missed the audition I would lost my contract with my agency. If I had left my work, I would have lost my job. At this point I had to figure out what was important to me. And yes, you guessed it, my acting career. A job, especially serving, can replace you at any time. Finding another job with perseverance will always land you a job. But losing an acting contract is a bad look. Remember to ask yourself, " In the next five years, would I have regretted losing this job or having went to that audition and losing that contract." This was my case. Fortunately, I didn't lose my job. I was able to convince one of the other servers to stay for me.

Find what is important to you. As an actor and thriving on my own, there is no balance. There is no control majority of the time over what happens next. Both emotionally and physically. Always be mentally prepared and don't give so much of your energy to irrelevant stress. Structure your time in a work and career balance.

2. Material Things

This may be common now among us who live in this time and day. It's just hard to afford things. When I decided to take on acting full throttle, I decided to give up material things that I felt that kept too much sentimental value. Memories. Within 10 years of building my life and acquired materials, I donated 90 percent of my things. From clothes, cameras, studio gear, furniture, and I gave up my little Yorkie terrier, who I miss so much. But I had to sacrifice all that to make sure I was giving all my energy on building the life I wanted. To become the actor I deserve.

I became a minimalist. It was a very emotional road for me because of the attachments I had to these material things. I knew that I grew up with nothing and having worked hard to buy them meant a lot for me. I realized over time these things aren't important. The person I am today is not in the things I own, but the success I achieved within my own terms of happiness. I wanted to be an actor on film and television. This was a needed sacrifice. We don't all have to make that sacrifice to become an actor. It does help with finding where your money, time, and energy should be on, but it's not a path for everyone.

3. Time

Time is precious. How you use it is a constant battle. In the beginning of my decision to fully emerge myself in my Acting career, I wanted to focus on building my career in every path and opportunity presented to me. I found a passion for writing these blogs about my acting career 'cause not only does it allow me to continue to rebuild my foundation and understand it clearly, but hopefully helps others. I find myself wanting to learn more of previous lessons I learned.

Health is a key value to my acting career. So I am in this constant battle to always work out and eat healthy. So I always make sure I put in the time. I want to make sure that I am physically and mentally prepared for any role I tackle in the future.

Have some time to understand and appreciate your level of creativity and the process of your craft. What we do as actors and actresses is what most may not understand. It's a mixture of psychology and physiology and instead of figuring out conclusions, we live the emotion, embody it, and figure it out ourselves.

So how does this sum up in sacrificing within time? Know where you want to stand as an actor. Many of us may have to work ten times harder to get to where we want to be. First and foremost understand that your career will not be handed to you. Figure out what enables you to have time for yourself to emphasis in building your career. Make a list of things that take up so much of your energy and time and that just seem unnecessary. Go through that list as many times as you want to make sure that it's needed. You'll be surprise that majority of the things on the list really have been a major drain.

There are a number of things along the way that we individually sacrifice for greater means, for greater purpose. These are just some of the things I naturally decided for myself and come to terms with to really focus on what is needed. Distancing myself from things that made me feel less of what I'm doing clarified a stronger path for me. My mind allowed in many creative aspects. This may be just a temporary sacrifice, or I like to say "fasting," but I have truly found more of me in these practices.

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About the Creator

Jade Lastimosa

I started my journey as a professional actor at the age of 28, but studied acting for 8 years, 4years theatre arts at the Jean and Knox theater, and 4 years in film acting at the Academy of art University.

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