I am sitting at my night job in a hotel reception in central London, it is 3am and I have another 4 hours left of shift 3 out of 6 in a row. Yesterday I had an audition for a film project at 10am and went straight after work and then had a meeting with the bassist from my band about our plans for the coming few weeks as the year begins to near its end. Tomorrow (Or rather, later today) I have class from 10am until 2pm for my online Music Business Degree where I have an exam on Thursday at 12pm which I will have to do from my hotel room in Prague after a 7am flight before meetings with people in preparation for the workshop that I teach there once a year at Prague Film School where I graduated in 2017.
This is a fairly normal weekly schedule for me. I work nights so I can pay my bills and buy my food and sustain my lifestyle and keep my days free for auditions and creative work while studying and growing myself. I attend workshops and classes and exercise, meditate and read, working on my body, my mind and my soul. I believe in continual growth.
I previously abused drugs and alcohol and since my sobriety in 2012 have been an active part of the IOGT-NTO Sobriety movement, speaking at public events and lobbying against Big Alcohol and founded a foundation for youths called “Love, Sobriety & Good Music” where I ran a sober rock club which provided a safe place for young people to play and listen to music, be social and have a good time and I volunteered for many years for the Swedish anti bullying organization “friends”.
I own and run my own music and film production company, Cuprite Productions and in early 2018 I founded The Global Acting Studio. I teach and coach creative individuals and groups all over the world and work as a consultant and manager while also pursuing my own career as an actor and musician.
I also suffer from a chronic illness called EDS (Ehler Danlose Syndrome) which I have had since birth which causes me pain and fatigue on a daily basis.
And I still make time to relax and spend time with my friends and loved ones. I even eat icecream and watch Netflix and allow myself time to “do Nothing”.
You may be wondering WHY I am writing this post?
I commented on a friends post on Facebook earlier today. He shared an image with the following two tweets:
Tweet 1 of 2:
“If you work 9-5, are broke and coming home every night to watch Netflix, you deserve to stay broke.
Every night you should be coming home and selling something, creating something, learning something, etc.
You should constantly be leveling yourself up.
Netflix won’t do that”
Tweet 2 of 2 (A Reply to the first tweet)
“It’s actually scary how capitalism has conditioned people into believing that others are poor bc they choose to rest their bodies.”
My comment to the post:
So True! Only hustle will get you towards your goals!
Make a plan, work towards it.
It is OK to enjoy Netflix, but don’t complain about lack of success.
Everyone wants to get into heaven, but no one wants to die.
So many want the reward but are not willing to put in the grind to get there.
I have received multiple negative comments in reply to my comment, Asking if I had read the post properly and asking if I realized that I was agreeing to the “wrong” part of the post.
This made me sad. Just because I am not a left wing socialist, does not make me a right wing facist. I consider myself a Centrist Capitalist, I believe in equal rights and I also believe in paying taxes. However I also believe that we should work and provide for ourselves, that we should create and innovate and grow wherever and whenever possible.
Yes, I agree with the first tweet, not the second tweet. I feel that there is a lot to be said with the mindset of “leveling yourself up”, to better oneself is to better the world because we can only truly decide what we do and how we react, therefore the better educated we are the more good we can do for the world around us.
Also notice how the person in tweet 1 said “Broke” and the person in tweet 2 used the word “poor”. Not the same thing. Broke is temporary, broke is the lack of money, Poor is a mindset.
Now Do not get me wrong. I am fully aware that not all people can just “Do Something About It”. There are people in countries and situations that do not have the luxury of making those choices. But the tweet is not about that, it is about those who make the active Choice to not make a change, and to instead choose to “Just” watch Netflix.
One must always look at the full context before judging.
I love watching movies and television, it is one of my many passions, it is part of my chosen profession. I love it so much in fact that I create my own bodies of work in the hope that others may enjoy my work in the same way.
It is not about judging people for “choosing to rest their bodies”, rest and a balanced life is super important to be able to have the energy to succeed with your goals. The optimal word being balance. Too much in either direction is not good.
I end this post in the hope that I can continue to inspire those that I can, that I can help others to understand me a little more and with a reminder to those around me and to myself
about my life mission statement:
I aim to inspire and help others to achieve their goals and to unlock their true potential by constantly striving to grow and be the best version of myself while leading by example in all the things I do.
Take dreams and turn them into goals, take goals and turn them into reality - Don’t just wish for it, work for it!
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