art and overcoming
Being in art and overcoming obstacles
Look, I feel like being in this creative space can be hard. I sat down with a few artists and they told me that keeping themselves disciplined and accountable especially during the boring or hard parts can be difficult.
Now I know any problem we come to can be difficult, you have to come to terms with it and work even though it’s not fun or pretty. For example, on November, 2nd, 2025 I had 6 ischemic strokes, I was unable to walk, my entire right side got affected and I wasn’t able to control it, my fine motor skills on the right side went out the window, and my speech got messed up.
(as if one of those things wasn’t enough 😊)
(yay, of course)
I was told throughout that entire situation (it is still happening <3) that it would be hard. For the longest time (it was not that long, I’m just dramatic), I tried to just focus on the recovery and listen to just what my doctors told me. That was not working, I had to bring back the artist's personality and mindset in.
I and many other (most) people I know in the creative space own and run their own business, being creative in a capitalist society means we can’t just focus on creativity all of the time. As much as we want to, it’s just not always realistic. We have to think about the finances and sustainability of what we do.
For a lot of us that is the boring, mundane, and yes hard thing to do.
So you may be sitting there and having read that and go, “hey Sammy, girl get to the point! Girl what is the connection?”
That is such a good question, I’m so happy you asked.
The connection is this:
Things in life and in art can be hard, but we have a built in resilience when it comes to hard things.
In the case of my recovery, I had to take (literally) my own advice and remember how to approach things I am having an issue with. I had to ask the questions.
Am I overthinking?? If so why & and about what?
Did I do all of my prep work?
Do I understand what’s happening?
Am I grounded?? Is my body in a place where I’m ready and open to receive any information?
In my recovery, I had to trust the process and the professionals. I had to put my artist mindset to the test. I had to trust my body and the slow process of getting back to a new normal. I needed to trust my timing and put the work in and be okay not having that instant gratification.
In acting, it’s really important to know your prep and understanding so that you can be grounded and ready for anything. I had to let go of unnecessary tension in my body.
(hard because I’m a perfectionist, yay)
I used a lot of the lessons that I use in private coaching sessions. I had to remind myself that being imperfect is not only the goal but actually good, but still being committed and trusting the work.
I had to coach myself in a way. I had to talk myself out of catastrophizing, trying to justify everything, and being unkind to myself. I had to talk myself out of overthinking.
I really leaned into the humanity of what I teach and I really relied on Elia Kazan’s “The Actor’s Vow”.
It’s so important to take the weight off of one’s self and really take the artifice one puts on acting and just be present as yourself in the moment.
Girl leave yourself alone!! :)
The stubbornness of art
There is a certain quality in a person that chooses a creative lifestyle. In some way, even if you have a degree in it, there is still a rebellious and non-conforming nature to people who choose this as a passion and career.
In my recovery, I have noticed that people like to project how they feel onto you.
(incredibly unfair by the way)
I’ve gotten a lot of, “you are so strong” or “it’s inspirational”.
Now I don’t wanna discredit the compliment, but saying things like that is a little rude, to me because at least with the “strong” comment, it almost makes it sound like I had a choice. Now technically I did have the choice to not do anything and just give up. So not really, if I wanted even a chance to get to where I want to go (both figuratively and literally), I really did not have a choice. I was told by so many therapists and doctors that I was so determined to get my life back.
(yawn)
It wasn’t determination more than me being stubborn. I think that distinction is really important. Yes, I mean determination was part of it, sure, but I was working so hard on teaching my limbs how to work again, make my speech more fluid, and go to every appointment even when I didn’t want to go. It wasn’t just to get better, but it was stubbornness to prove to myself and to my doctors and support system that I could still do it.
See that is the kind of mindset I got from being an artist, and it is exactly the mindset that one needs for a craft like acting because it requires you to fully give yourself over to the process and to trust the very slow improvements as well as your timing. It requires you to almost trust blindly at first. But both as an actor/artist and as a person, I can tell you it is worth it.
