I don’t know about you, but I think rejection is a beast.
It’s a wild animal that’s content to roam and roar loudly. It tries to
sound-off in my life and I sense many of you have probably heard the same intimidating
roar as well. It’s very unpleasant, to say the least. But, I’ve had to learn
how to tolerate and tame this unruly animal. You see, if I want to maintain my sanity and be
the best I can be personally and professionally, I need to ignore the roar.
After all, my well-being is at stake and I can either wilt from disappointment or walk forward with confidence, in spite of what I'm hearing.
The
key to my every day success as a Voice-Over Talent depends on how I choose to
respond to rejection. Anyone who works day-in and day-out auditioning and
marketing their voice and their Voice-Over business understands full-well that they can’t allow themselves to
be overcome with this kind of negativity. We're all warned not to internalise it, but it's hard, because when you feel roared at you take it personally! I have and sometimes still do. Rejection is a big part of
the industry we work in, so we have to decide how to handle it when it
happens. The fact is, if we start taking rejection to heart, life becomes
terribly unhealthy. It overshadows our successes as well. And even though we could equate not being cast, to being cast-aside; it's better to believe the quote: 'Not rejected, just not selected.'
(And if I can't seem to ignore the roar, this is what I'm going to roar back at 'the beast' from now on.)
Anyway, before I ever contemplated blogging I had bookmarked
an article I read on rejection: 'Why You Can't Take Rejection Personally As An Actor' by the uber talented Rebecca Forstadt. I'm glad I marked this particular post because now I can Rah-Rah! and re-share it. I relish people's stories and she had
written one that reminded me (...yet again) how subjective our industry is. (She actually starts her blog with this story.) Even though she
has a wealth of experience (30+ years) she still faces rejection and reminds us
all that we have to "roll with the punches." After all, this is the nature of the beast,
right?!
So this week's Debby Barnes Voice-Over Rah-Rah! is
happy to thank Rebecca Forstadt for writing her blog instead of shedding a tear. Read it here:
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