Lessons for Actors: Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

Posted on December 11, 2008

The following was written on 11/7/2008 @ 11:00pm.  I did not post it because, ironically, I was somewhat afraid to. By posting these words, I am committing myself to actually acting on my words. But I’m feeling brisk lately. And getting a clearer view of how quickly life slips away (ie procrastination leads us nowhere, and not posting this is procrastination).

Feeling somewhat inspired by my recent road trip to L.A., here I am, pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I hope this advice helps someone else out there trying to learn the art of acting.

::: The following was written on 11/7/2008 @ 11:00pm :::

I’ve just returned from my Emotional Acting class at the Jimmy Flowers‘ Studio.  I had an interesting experience tonight that inspired me to write this post. It was both an interesting personal experience, but a realization also. This is dealing with my own personal comfort zone.

The class tonight focused on Screaming and Crying.

I tend to be more reserved and sheltered when it comes to displaying emotions and physicalities. Naturally the prospect of attacking these two extremes brought on quite a bit of anxiety. I think this is the reason tonight’s class seemed to impact me more than other classes in regard to my comfort zone.

There were six of us students. Not a big group, but large enough to make you feel like you were in a crowd when you’re performing on your own.

When it was my turn, I stood in position. I was nervous. Maybe even scared, which you’d think would help my performance (maybe it did), but I wasn’t scared of the supposed monster in the practice scene. I was scared to open myself emotionally to other people.

It is a safe environment. Everyone was patient and I had as much time as I needed to be comfortable. I found myself cycling through different phases. The class saw me, and thought I was preparing. I was actually battling my nervousness. Then battling the impulse to sit back down and refuse to do it.

To me, it seemed like I stood there forever. But in reality it was probably one or two minutes. And I thought to myself “every second that I allow to pass only makes this that much more awkward and hard to do”. And at some point, I just let my imagination do a little “prep” work, and then jumped into the scene.

The reason tonight felt like such a success, to me, is because I expanded my comfort zone. I forced myself to resist the overwhelming urge to sit back down. And by expanding my comfort zone, I also pushed my artificial ceiling further up; reducing its ability to restrict me by that much more.

Let’s talk about artificial caps (or as referenced above “artificial ceiling”). We all have an array of artificial caps. You could say they are self limiting beliefs we have of ourselves. And the more I talk the more you’ll think I’m just a motivational speaker. But that is really what this boils down too. We can only grow as far as we have given ourselves boundaries to grow.

One may argue that totally removing boundaries entirely is the nirvana of personal growth. The funny thing about boundaries is that we need them to survive. If we don’t have boundaries, we will flounder with no objective. But if those boundaries are not adjusted according to our growth, they become an inhibitor.

Expanding your horizon
You’ve probably heard your parents tell you to expand your horizon. In the context of acting and redefining your comfort zone, the application is very literal. Do things you wouldn’t dare do. It is somewhat counter-intuitive; but that is because our sub-consciousness or our psyche or whatever you want to call it has built-in survival mechanisms. In most cases these are survival mechanisms born of false beliefs. It is a literal battle to figure out what those are, and to restructure or totally wipe them out.

Here are some examples I believe apply directly to me. Use this list if you’d like, but making your own would be most effective. These are things that naturally give me fear and anxiety imagining myself doing them.

Skipping down the street: Weird one right? Because what is so strange about skipping down a street? Well for me I can’t explain why that makes me scared. But that’s the point. By going out and doing it I’m facing those fears and conquering them, if not this time, perhaps the next time I do it.

Singing out loudly while walking down the street: See above, only add more anxiety and fear.

Singing out loudly while skipping down the street: somehow this one does not make me as afraid as walking and singing. But still, I’d hate to do this.

Talking to a stranger: Laughable because a majority of society has no problem with this. But the idea of walking up to a person, and talking to them without having a point is scary. Yes, I can talk to a stranger to get information (where am I, where is such and such). But to talk to the person just for the sake of talking to the person. Where will that go? And what will they think you’re ulterior motive is? (such is the world we live in)

Flashing a school bus full…er okay, remember how I said boundaries were a good thing earlier?  That applies here. But you see what I’m doing. Taking things that I normally balk at out of fear or concern, or anxiety and exploring them. Just doing them.

The question is do I practice what I preach?  I don’t know yet, because I’ve not done any of those things that I’ve listed above. But I am going to challenge myself personally to do all those things (except flash the school bus that is). It may take me a while to muster up the strength to do it. But I know the sooner I do it, the sooner I benefit from it.

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