This week I decided to talk about improve. When I used to hear the word improve, I immediately would get intimidated. The thought of having to come up with something on the spot sounds really scary. Not having control of where the situation may go sounds like you’re leading yourself towards disaster. As much as I can extremely relate to these thoughts, I have found a way to overcome these overcome these thoughts. As much as you may afraid to “make a mistake”, every single person in that room is probably going to do the same thing. You have to remember, you’re not the only person that has no clue what’s going to happen next. Everyone else in this room is probably afraid and has no clue what’s going on either, so just give it your all and I promise you, everything will turn out fine. This mindset has really benefited with my acting skills and has helped me not be so afraid. Fear is one of your worst enemies in art and life! It hold you back from finding out your passion and learning something new. Once you finally understand that you’re not the only one, it no longer feels like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. This idea of not being afraid also can apply to cold reads. I’ve always been intimidated by performing a script for the first time in front of an audience without every seeing the script. But what you need to understand is that no one else knows the script, so you’re not the only one. If you give the script your all and just allow yourself to be okay with making mistakes, then the cold read won’t end up being as bad as it seems. Once you understand that you’re not alone in a situation and that your not the only one feeling that, then it allows you to understand that it’s okay to be nervous, is okay to make mistakes, but don’t let that hold you back from giving it your all and being your best you. Because as much as you may not believe it, fear can stop you from getting stronger, improving, and giving the script and the audience all you’ve got, but you have the control to let it not. Once you have applied this mindset, improve and cold reads will seem much less intimidating.