Summary: If you listen to my Notes on Acting regularly you know that I haven’t added a new podcast in several months. What you don’t know is that in April I developed an infection in my heart that caused several strokes. I was in a fight for my life and the strokes made it impossible for me to speak and paralyzed my left side. I am now well enough to write and produce a podcast and get it on the website and I am more than anxious to talk to actors and those who visited the website in the past 6 months I have been forced to learn some important life lessons that I think apply to acting. First no matter how long it takes for your career to take off don’t give up. Re-learning to talk and walk again have been the hardest things I have ever done and my success depends on me showing up at rehab every day mentally and physically and persevering and working regardless of how tired or frustrated I am. I cannot give up on myself, that’s a lesson I learned as an actor, and you can’t give up on yourself. Patience and perseverance are muscles that can be trained so we learn to carry on even whe we don’t think we can. You are much stronger than you think you are… I have learned that I am much stronger than I thought I was. You have to believe that quitting is not an option. Just because you don’t get cast from time to time is no reflection on you or your talent so don’t let it get inside your head and undermine you. Stay strong, show up physically and mentally for every audition and performance and be true to yourself Thanks for listening and thanks to those of you you who wrote to me here and on Facebook to see if I was alive and well. Your interest, concern, and support got me back in front of the microphone faster than I would have on my own. Thanks for listening I hope you’ll join me next week at actingis.com for my Notes on Acting © Eric Barr. All rights reserved. 2013 listento podcast For podcasts and more follow on Twitter @NotesOnActing. Listen to podcasts on iTunes or Stitcher On Demand Radio
