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[0:00] Jeffrey Dreisbach: How do you deal with a constant barrage of the awful news and challenging politics that we're dealing with? What coping mechanisms do you use when you're feeling stressed? How do you justify your dreams of having an acting career with the COVID-19 reality in your life? Finally, don't you just hate it when someone says to you, lighten up? Well, here's what I say to that person. Oh, it's all on today's episode of Casting Actors Cast.

[0:41] Jeffrey Dreisbach: This is Casting Actors Cast. Each episode takes you behind the scenes and answers your questions about the business of show. Please don't forget to subscribe and like wherever you get your podcasts. Now here's the host of Casting Actors Cast, Jeffrey Dreisbach.

[0:57] Jeffrey Dreisbach: Well, hello and welcome to this episode of Casting Actors Cast, the podcast for actors from a casting director. I'm Jeffrey Dreisbach, and I'm a casting director with the McCorkle Group in New York. How are you today? Don't worry. I'm not going to tell you to lighten up today. I promise. I do, however, want to have a discussion about healthy things we can do to keep a proper balance and perspective with everything that's going on in our lives.

[1:29] Jeffrey Dreisbach: But before we get to that, this is that moment of the podcast where I want to sincerely thank you for joining Casting Actors Cast. It's really great having you here today. You know, you can go to the website Casting Actors Cast for more information, previous episodes of the podcast. And you can also fill out a form that says dive into the talent pool. And when you do that, and you fill out your email address and your name, by the way, I don't do anything with that information, I just keep it. I end up giving you a free downloadable PDF book on voiceover work called Conversation Pieces Out of the Studio, The Voiceover Workshop for Professional Actors.

[2:13] Jeffrey Dreisbach: So it's a hundred-page book on voice acting. I wrote it, I guess it's been a handful of years ago, but you know, it's really still relevant today, and I think you're going to get a lot out of it. And what better time to get more information about the world of show business and voiceovers for that matter. Also, I want to say this is again a moment for me to just give my complete and total thanks to Actors Connection. Actors Connection is a great organization in New York that provides classes, workshops, intensive, all kinds of really great information and working with professionals in the industry.

[2:55] Jeffrey Dreisbach: So all you need to do is go to Actors Connection, and you're going to find all kinds of online classes. And when things start getting back to normal, we're going to be back in the studio again. Occasionally I teach at Actors Connection, so it would be great to see you there. Please do check them out. So let's get to the subject at hand. I'm calling this lighten up. You know, finding the right balance between internal and external negativity is sometimes really, really hard, right?

[3:29] Jeffrey Dreisbach: With all the things that we're dealing with today, the internal negativity are all those things that you are hard on yourself about. You know, I want an acting career and I'm not doing much. I'm procrastinating. I have fear of missing out. I don't know if this is the right business for me to be in right now. I'm angry because my training has been put on hold, or I have to now make completely different adjustments in order to get through the day with all of the things that are going on right now.

[4:05] Jeffrey Dreisbach: Additionally, we have those external negative forces that are playing on us. I don't know about you, but you know, my wife and I now we try to have a rule that we only do one hour of news programming in the evening. In other words, just one hour, because to be inundated as much as we can be, if you're watching CNN all the time or whatever you're watching, it just can get quite overwhelming. And we hear the same stories over and over again, kind of told through a different lens, and that can get exhausting.

[4:46] Jeffrey Dreisbach: So I think it's important to get, you know, useful information. I think it's important to find out what's going on in the world. That is very, very important. But I also think there's a tendency to get overly involved in the day-to-day of what's going on. And so I think we have to take a look at that. So the internal mechanisms, those are the things that we tell ourselves, and those external influences. Perhaps you're having challenges because you're a parent and you're trying to self-school your child.

[5:19] Jeffrey Dreisbach: Perhaps you haven't had a chance to get back to your money gig. Clearly, there are not very many acting gigs going on right now, apart from some online readings of plays or some online productions through Zoom. Oftentimes they're money raisers for a lot of theaters, kind of holding on, trying to keep it going. Maybe you've been involved in some of those, and that's great. But trying to keep the right balance between those internal and those external negative influences is really, really hard.

[5:52] Jeffrey Dreisbach: But there are some things that I'm going to suggest for you so that you keep the balance that you find out the best way you can navigate those negative forces that are coming at you. So one thing that you can do, and one thing that I try to do for myself as much as possible is what I call the screen door philosophy. And that literally is the image of a screen door, and you let the fresh air in, but you keep the bugs out.

[6:24] Jeffrey Dreisbach: In other words, filtering everything that's coming at you through that screen door. If it's just a mental thing, that you're just going to allow that information or that situation that you're dealing with as it is helpful for you to know, and then the rest of it, the emotionality, the negative energy, the awful political situation, no matter where you are politically, you know that there's just so many divides and so much discussion about what's happening. And again, I don't think this is something you completely divorce yourself from, but think of that screen door.

[7:03] Jeffrey Dreisbach: I also think that there's something called positive distraction. Positive distraction really allows you to say, I'm going to take some time off from this in order to do something very specific and very, very focused. Now, one example, I've done previous podcasts about this, but I like going to Turner Classic Movies and watching an old film noir from the 1940s or early 50s. That's kind of fun. You can kind of get lost, but at the same time, you're learning something, you're getting some information, you're learning about what acting was like at that period of time.

[7:40] Jeffrey Dreisbach: And so I think it's a useful, what I call positive distraction. So you're not constantly focused on the day-to-day. So think about some of those positive distractions that you can give yourself. And I think you might find it pretty helpful overall. So the screen door philosophy and some positive distraction, I think those are two things to take a look at. And finally, I think that there's something to be said about the physical part of your attention.

[8:12] Jeffrey Dreisbach: And that means getting outside, practicing social distancing, but getting some exercise. Whether you're doing yoga in your apartment or whether you're deciding to do a walk, you know, there's something to be said of giving yourself a regular scheduled routine of exercise so that you feel better. I do this kind of crazy two miles a day, but I do this weird power walk where I have five-pound hand weights. They're called heavy hands. And what I do is I do this kind of weird power walk.

[8:51] Jeffrey Dreisbach: And people look at me like I'm just a nutcase. I don't mind that at all. I'm like, okay, I don't care. But what I'm doing is I'm getting a lot of upper body strength. I've been able to keep my weight low because I've had some sugar problems and I don't have type 2 diabetes anymore. That's the truth. But I do that every day religiously. And sometimes I'll listen to podcasts, not my own. Sometimes I will listen to music. So it just depends on how I feel.

[9:20] Jeffrey Dreisbach: But I find that is a positive distraction, but I also know that no matter what else confronts my day, I have done something really, really successful. Some I've accomplished something. So I know it's hard, and I know that it just starts with just a little bit of a walk, just a regular old walk. Then maybe give yourself a little bit more distance. But the thing not to do is to stress out about it. The thing to do is just something for yourself every day that you can feel better about where you are and who you are in the situation that you're in.

[9:59] Jeffrey Dreisbach: So screen door philosophy, positive distraction and some physical attention in the form of exercise. So that's one area to take a look at. The other is to try to see humor in everyday things, and I know again, this is a challenging thing, right? Because there's not a lot of funny stuff going on out there, believe me. But how you look at the world can really have an impact, and it can be a constant internal mechanism that can wear you down big time.

[10:37] Jeffrey Dreisbach: Uh, I know you know what I'm talking about. So trying to see the humor in everyday things, not the stressful things, but the everyday things. Like, you know, I was taking my garbage to the garbage chute in my building. And I just thought about how much garbage this building must accumulate every day. And I know that's not funny, right? You can go, oh my God, that's just terrible. But just the idea of having a garbage chute and things going down the garbage and people constantly throwing down that garbage. You know, if I were a garbage chute, I would be complaining right now because there's so much garbage happening right now. Okay, so maybe that's a lame way of looking at it in a funny way. But those are the kind of things that I do all the time.

And I think it helps me. So finding humor in watching somebody walking on the other side of the street, just maybe they have an interesting walk. Maybe they have some kind of quirkiness about them. And I'm not talking about making fun of anybody. I'm just talking about little everyday observations where you can become very present with what's happening in front of you and observing behavior because I think people can be really, really funny sometimes.

[12:01] Jeffrey Dreisbach: The next thing to try and see the humor in things is ask yourself right now, I want you to ask yourself, when was the last time you laughed? I mean, really laughed. Now, if you can't remember the last time you laughed, it's time that you think about that. It's time that you do yourself a favor and recall a favorite joke. And do me a favor, tell that joke to somebody. Whether it's on Zoom, whether it's on the phone, whether it's a significant other in your life, tell somebody a joke. See if they find it funny. If they don't laugh, I think it's funny that they don't laugh. So recalling a favorite joke, trying to find the humor in everyday things, those are two things that you can do for yourself. The third thing that I love doing, okay, I'm crazy, right? This is a crazy thing to suggest. But I promise you, I would love for you in the privacy of your own home. I would love for you to just laugh for 30 seconds.

[13:30] Jeffrey Dreisbach: Oh my god. Oh, gosh. I don't know if that was 30 seconds or not. Ooh, boy. Okay, I'm better now. I don't know about you. But just laughing for 30 seconds. I mean, I can break it down into getting more air into your body, just letting yourself lighten up. Um, and I promise I wasn't going to tell you to lighten up, so I'm not telling you to lighten up. I'm just saying you'll feel like you've lightened up if you just give yourself a chance to laugh. You don't have to think about anything. You can just enjoy the moment. Enjoy the experience of laughing. Please, please give it a try. If it doesn't work, let me know. I want to hear your attempt at laughing for 30 seconds. And then I want to hear how unsuccessful it was, he said sarcastically.

So moving on to the subject. Instead of me telling you to lighten up, I'm going to tell you something a little bit different. I think it's important that you don't try to just lighten up. I think it's important to find ways to detach from that negative energy or that like-minded energy that you're feeling in others.

[15:02] Jeffrey Dreisbach: In other words, do the best you can to avoid feeling like a victim. You're not personally being victimized by the world around you. I promise. Everyone is experiencing their version of what's happening right now. So please do yourself a favor and don't personalize the victimization that you are experiencing. Because you know what? I'm teaching a lot of classes, and I'm hearing it from other people. I'm hearing about what was done wrong. I'm hearing about why couldn't they? Or why don't they, or why do I feel? It's all of this kind of weird um, I don't know. I I'm thinking it's like swimming through jello of just trying to get some kind of headway and understanding what's going on. It's important to know that you're not a victim here. It's not personal, it's a universal reality that we are all experiencing. And so you're not alone. I mean, I it's that phrase, right? The good news is you're not unique. The bad news is you're not unique.

[16:25] Jeffrey Dreisbach: So in reality, it's okay to feel badly about your situation. Um, sometimes I think if we're feeling a little down, I uh you I'm not a psychologist here, but sometimes I think it's valuable to just indulge in that feeling. What does that really, really feel like? And sit with that. You know, if I'm feeling sorry for myself, uh there's nothing better than a few candles and a bubble bath for me to just sit there and feel sorry for myself for a little bit, knowing that I'm gonna be getting out of the bath and toweling off and moving on with the rest of my day or the rest of my night, whatever the case may be. So it's okay to feel badly about your situation, but you have to promise that you're going to then find gratitude.

The littlest gratitude can go a long way. I'm talking about the minuscule gratitude of your day. Do you have a roof over your head? Are you okay right now? Are you healthy right now? Do you have people in your life that love you? Those are things to be completely grateful for.

[17:39] Jeffrey Dreisbach: So gratitude is such to me a powerful medicine and can really combat feeling badly. So it's hard. I know summoning up that gratitude can sometimes be challenging, but I think that there's value in it. And I think that that is all part of what we started this conversation with, which is finding the balance. Finally, what I want to say as it relates to you as an actor and being in the business, please understand that everything you are experiencing right now is information and experience for your acting. Everything. Your emotional feeling, the externals that are coming at you, your relationships, all the dynamics of day-to-day existence is of value to you as an actor because your talent is not being diminished because you're not acting right now. Your talent is not being diminished because you are not acting right now, if that is the case. So it's important that you see yourself as a talented person gathering resource material for future endeavors.

[18:57] Jeffrey Dreisbach: Repeat after me. I am a talented person gathering resource material for future endeavors. I know it might seem corny to you. It really might, and I apologize if I'm coming off like a cornball. But I need to give you an optimistic message because I need to share that with you because of my own struggles, my own issues about the future of casting, the future of the business. I love teaching for that reason because I'm able to give information that I know is valuable to others, and that gives me a sense of fulfillment that I otherwise I don't know what I would do if I didn't have it. Doing these podcasts gives me a great sense of purpose. And so I'm so so grateful that I have this in my life. And I'm grateful for you for being there. So my suggestion is to simply live your life, love yourself, love others, and please don't forget to laugh.

[20:04] Jeffrey Dreisbach: My last suggestion is would you please consider sharing this episode to other creatives who might be hurting right now? Won't you please share this with others? It might help them. There are other people that are out there that could benefit from this, I think. And it would really be great to have you come back for another episode of Casting Actors Cast. Casting Actors Cast is made possible with your support just by listening. Please like, share, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Caitlin Clark.