It’s great to have good friends. They become your cheering section when you need it.

I was talking to some friends of mine about how I had applied to a show and hadn’t been accepted. It really seemed to shock them that I wasn’t. As an artist who has been doing this for only a few years, I get waitlisted or even worse; “Thanks for applying” more often than not. These years since COVID, there are some shows that disappeared and seasoned artists are not yet ready to put their faith and their investment into new replacements. We don’t know the promoters, what their experience is and it takes time to build the following. The other thing is, many of us got burned by shows that had been around and folded without any warning. Thus, the shows that are still standing are getting a lot more applications and it is stiffer competition.

When I don’t get accepted to a show, I just move on to the next thing and look for something else to do. It is the way of things and you really can’t sweat it. Ultimately, the denials do tend to wear on anyone and having my friends say things like, “I can’t believe they wouldn’t accept you!” or “That doesn’t make any sense, you are so good”, really helps to bolster the bruised ego. That isn’t the only reason to have them around but, I will say it is a perk.

Sometimes, I don’t even know that I need the uplift. Doing this for a living is difficult but so is any job that a person does. Keeping that in mind, there are always days that are more difficult than others and when you keep pushing uphill and are used to the struggle, you don’t always recognize the symptoms of emotional wear and tear. I have spoken in the past of having a “phone tree” that I call when I feel down. I have a history in my family of mental health issues and have suffered in the past myself. One of the key things in self-care is to make sure you acknowledge that you are getting depressed and do something about it. I have made a list of solutions that I can try before I need to seek out professional aid and the most powerful one is my phone tree.

The phone tree is list of people that I call on my down days. Sometimes the order of who I am going to call changes but it is always the same idea, people who are your cheering section. Now, they might not always have time for you. Don’t take that as a sign of anything but it being life. That is why it is a phone tree not a phone “stick”. You need several levels so that you have multiple people to call. Sometimes, I don’t even call to talk about my problems, I just call to make them laugh. Every once in a while, I find they have bigger problems than mine and helping them makes me feel better. The idea of the phone tree is to lift your mood, not to fix your life. Positive energy can help turn your depression around and most times that is all I need.

I looked online to find places to go for free mental health and found this: Free resources from Mental Health America | Mental Health America. This is just one online resource for assistance, there are still places listed if you look up resources locally. The best bet is if you don’t feel like your normal self, you aren’t able to get regular tasks done, don’t want to be around your friends anymore; take some time to consider why. If you don’t have a good answer, make a call and ask a professional. Don’t wait, too many things go wrong before you realize it. You are special and you make a difference in the world. Take it from someone who has lost those who never knew how important they were, you are seen. Oh! by the way, art heals! So do art as well.