"The Wisest Follow Their Own Direction." Euripedes

Alison wrote an email earlier today to thank me for last night’s blog. She is very sensitive to others’ worries for her, as I was. I need to help shake her loose from her sensitivity to it; it isn't good for her. We are not responsible for other people’s mental states.

Her sister sounds quite dear. She also sounds like a micro manager. Sis needs to let Ali go. She’s 27 years old.

Yes, she will make some mistakes but she has a good head on her shoulders and needs to depend on her own intuition and God. She will probably never be rich since money and the things it buys don't float her boat (any more than they float mine) so she might as well be happy. (Lots of people are rich and terribly UNhappy, and that stinks, too. Perhaps their ladder to success has been leaning against the wrong wall and they are just finding out. Sad.)

God doesn’t make junk. Actors are just as valuable as any other profession – they make people think and make them laugh and feel things. They inspire and inform. They are like teachers in many ways – and teachers aren’t paid very well, either, but no one smacks them down for doing their job.

Because artists love what they do, the rest of the public considers it frivolous. Many people all-too-often bust their butts at jobs they don’t enjoy as much. Some of the flak against artists is jealousy, I think. “How dare they enjoy their work!”

Everybody should be enjoying their work! We as a society have bought into the “No pain, no gain” ethos – not just in exercise but in so many areas! Work is probably bigger into this than exercise is. Exercise is backing away from the saying.

What we do forty hours a week should not hurt. It should feel good and it should bless others. (Not all jobs are feel-good jobs but all are vital!!)

It bothers me that creatives are supposed to “get real” and live the lives the rest of society is living. NO, THEY SHOULDN’T! They should live lives that energize them and give them a feeling of fulfillment.

Nothing feels better than creating (unless it’s procreating)! Creating feels powerful and important and is necessary for the vitality of the planet.

I do get tired of people thinking actors, writers and musicians are taking up valuable space and ought to get real jobs. I can’t imagine life without books, music and dramatic and comedic seasoning! I would prefer to die if all one could expect is all the rest that life has to offer.

Creatives help us take a break... how important is that?!

Was De's life frivolous because he was an actor?

Alison and the rest of you creatives out there, LISTEN UP! You have your marching orders! God gave them to you. Don't let anyone tell you that what drives you doesn't matter. You are probably more driven than most people, in fact, because you'd gladly do what you want to do 24/7 if your eyes didn't snap shut at night!

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I feel that perhaps Alison needs to go to Ireland to live -- or Hollywood (Ireland is less expensive)-- to get with the many creatives who live there and find out it isn't fairy dust the way her sister tends to think it is. It wasn't until I took a tour of Paramount that I truly realized, "Hey, regular people work here! There is nothing other-worldly about them. They aren't sporting wings. They're regular working Joes..."

Getting thick as thieves with other creatives may be just what she needs to stop worrying about what her sister is going through because Alison wants to create magic. Someday her sister will be proud of her -- but not if she succeeds in extinguishing the spark that animates Alison! Big Sis needs to turn her loose to fly. It isn't showing off; it's intrinsic to who she is, who God made her to be. She's an I (in the DISC Personality Insights world) -- she needs to be seen and to express as an actor or God wouldn't have made her want to be one! It's all very clear to me.

She won't be happy as anything else unless her passion segues into some other form of service that allows a full expression of her actor to flourish. (And there are jobs like that, but there's no need to fall back on them yet!)

People (family especially) need to live and let live. No one has anyone else's answers.