I tend to receive emails in the summer months from actors who are having a case of the actor funk. It happens. Life is beautiful, the sun is shining, the days are longer — giving you far more time to get things done, and we’re halfway through the year, which could make you really bummed about how much hasn’t happened for you yet.

Well, it’s my birthday (today), and I celebrate my birthday as if it’s New Year’s Day. I am off to a new start, more excited than I ever am on January 1st of any year! (Oh, and what do I want for my birthday? A vid from YOU, of course! Hee!) I think that’s a big reason the summer blues don’t really come around for me.

But since they do come around for many of my readers, I’m going to share a few tips with you. First, this great one from a tweet by actor and author Hill Harper: “Surround yourself with people who BELIEVE in you. There is no greater asset in life.” Absolutely! The company you keep and your environment are vitally important to your overall happiness. That’s a long-haul thing. What about short-term fixes?

Some actors I have worked with over the years have employed all sorts of little “tricks” to dig out of bad patches. Anything from taking a shower in the middle of the day to “wash off the bad morning” to dressing in bright colors when all you want to wear is black. Fancying up the makeup or trying on some disco nails works for some folks. Putting on some fun music and making yourself dance is always fun! Buying yourself flowers, giving back through any sort of charity or volunteer endeavor, having a little puppy therapy, even painting pottery or doing something else crafty (whether you’re good at it or not) can be loads of fun.

The important element is to do the one next thing you can do, rather than wallowing in the funk for too long. Of course, wallow for a minute. Make sure you get it out of your system. A good cry can take care of that! I have favorite tearjerker movies (or even episodes of TV shows) that can get my emotions OUT and then let me get on with the work I have in front of me.

I have a folder on my MacBook (and in my photo albums on the iPhone and iPad) that’s called INTENTION. Whenever I need a dose of happy, I turn on a slide show of the images from that folder. Guaranteed to get me there! It’s also the folder that my “screen saver” pulls from, when generating a slide show for my monitor, before the hard drive goes to sleep due to inactivity. I love seeing those favorite images dance across my screen. Reminds me of what’s important to me and where I’m headed. Makes me smile.

Why is it important to cheer up? Well, being blue may be okay, but being blue for too long leads to bitterness. And no one will care why you’re bitter, they’ll just know it doesn’t feel good to be around you, and they will choose to work with someone else unless there’s absolutely no avoiding working with you. (And when isn’t it avoidable?) I remember talking about Rupert Everett and his recent (and less recent) media blitzes about not being hired because he chose to come out of the closet.

Whether his being openly gay had anything to do with a role he did or didn’t get along the way isn’t the point, anymore. After his second rant about it all, more producers started thinking, “Ugh. What a pain in the ass he is!” and he started looking less exciting as a casting choice. While there may be someone out there who says, “Ooh! Let’s show the world Rupert Everett can be cast and can be wonderful! Eff you, Hollywood machine!” there are likely far more people who say, “Moving on.”

Does this mean you shouldn’t rage against the machine? No. Of course not. But get it off your chest and then move on.

It always fascinates me that there are people who love to focus on the negative (or on things that really turn them off). Like my rabidly liberal friends who love to watch Bill O’Reilly or listen to Rush Limbaugh. Why? It just gets you riled up to listen to someone you hate! I find it so interesting when someone who HATES ME follows me on Twitter or is my fan on Facebook, just so he can post on my wall. Isn’t that bizarre? I mean, life’s too short! Why focus on something that so turns you off? Wouldn’t you rather live life filled to the brim with things that turn you on? Make you smile? Give you reasons to celebrate?

That reminds me of a week in which three different people emailed me to let me know someone was anonymously bashing me on a message board somewhere. WHO CARES?!? I may know that haters exist, but I certainly don’t need to sit down to tea with them. Other people’s issues are none of my business. Non-anonymous folks with constructive feedback I need to hear? I’ll take that. But as Mark Sikes recently wrote, those who hide their identity? I don’t assume they’re Batman. I assume they’re a scrawny, scared 14-year-old kid in the basement, using a keyboard to say all the things they would never say in person. I would give that kid some acne cream and a pat on the back to help with his confidence level, not invite him to a board of directors meeting for my corporation.

Walk your path. Feel good about your choices. Don’t try to FIX others (they’ll just bring you down, if it takes more than a minute to help them out). Keep a list of things that make you feel good, so that when you don’t, you can pull it out and try some tricks to get back in the right direction. And for the love of all that is holy, as my actor friend Caroline Timm says, “If you’re looking for faith in humanity and stuff DO NOT read YouTube comments.”

So… what’s your path? How do you cheer up? Comments are open below. Let’s jam!

Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!

Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001366.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.