There are three things that I am passionate about: performing, traveling, and eating healthfully. This blog is a hybrid of my daily adventures, trials, and tribulations. I did win the "Principle's Writing Award" in the Sixth Grade, after all.
STAGE
When I was a tiny tot, my folks took me to a family party. They suddenly realized I wasn't at the dinner table where they'd put me in my booster seat. Instead, I had made my way to makeshift stage, and had put the microphone up to my mouth and was happily babbling away.
Red flags, anyone?
For as long as I can remember, music has been apart of my life. My father would play his guitar and teach me songs from the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young anthology. I would steal my mother's cassette of Whitney by Whitney Houston and belt out "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" on the way to school. You could say I was bitten by the performance bug pretty early.
Fast-forward a few years, and my joy of music took me to the University of Maryland for a degree in Classical Voice. My time there ignited a love for the Opera literature; but I could not shake the feeling that I was meant for the Musical Theater. I took as many acting and dancing classes as I could, and by the time I was in my senior year, I was working professionally as an actor in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Its been several years since graduation and I've found steady creative outlets: whether thats as a musical theater actor, classical singer, or model. I also write for Backstage.com's "Unscripted: A Blog for Actors".
In March 2011, I packed all my belongings into my car and moved away from everything that I know and love to a charming neighborhood outside of Manhattan.
There is no job in the world that makes me more satisfied than being a performer. There is nothing else I could do with heart. Doing a job I love means I don't work a day in my life. :)
TRAVEL
Simply put: I love to travel. Good thing, because my line of work often involves quite a bit of moving around. At this point I'm really good at packing my life into a suitcase. I'm like a gypsy - but with more fashionable luggage.
My Adventures:
My Adventures:
- Israel (Winter 2008)
- Israel (Summer 2008)
- National Tour of the Continental US (2009-2010)
- Moving to New York City (2011 - ?)
- Second National Tour of the Continental US (2011-2012)
- Moving to New York City (2011 - ?)
- Second National Tour of the Continental US (2011-2012)
...and exploring what's close to home, too.
HEALTH
My journey to mindful eating was a bit roundabout. My entire adult life I have struggled with chronic migraines. In the past, I could never leave the house without extra pills incase a migraine struck. My experience was with "tunnel vision" migraines, where the actual headache was preceeded by a total darkening of my vision, until I could only see out of a tiny pinpoint. At that point the headaches would set in, and if I didn't lock myself in a dark room with heavy drugs and take a long nap, I could suffer these symptoms for up to three days. This got in the way of driving, school, and every day life.
Do you know when someone takes your picture and you see dark spots in front of your eyes for a few minutes? That is what my migraines were like, but the spots did not go away. They would be triggered by a long list of stressors; florescent light, natural light shining in my eyes, not enough sleep, not enough food, cheese, deli meat, wine.
In addition to a slew of daily preventative medication (I've tried everything on the market), I was afraid to leave the house without my "emergency pills" that would halt the progression of the migraine from visionary disturbances to full blown episodes. Those pills made me feel tired, sore, nauseous, and inhibited my ability to mentally focus. I felt drugged all the time.
What started out as an experiment with diet transformed my views on health and wellness. I had always restricted my diet to include less cheese and less MSG, because they seemed to be my triggers. After reading Michael Pollans, Omnivore's Dillemma, my curiosity spiked. Maybe all of the food I was eating was making me sick, not just Chinese take out.
Eventually I came to read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, and this was the impetus that changed my diet. Finally convinced that the food I was eating was not made of the healthful materials my body needed, not to mention unethically produced, I decided to drastically cut back my intake of animal products.
You are what you eat. Cutting out animal products and focusing on a less processed diet has freed me from constant fear of a debilitating headaches. I went from four-five migraines a week to one every six months. I almost feel that a miracle happened inside of my body, but I started feeding it the food that it needed. I am (almost) free of prescription medication, my cholesterol went down, my blood pressure resumed a normal level, and I can now rock an Elliptical trainer without huffing and puffing.
I feel healthy, and more importantly, I feel more educated about what I am putting in my mouth. This also frees up ample opportunities for experimenting in the kitchen, which I never knew I enjoyed. Love your veggies and your body will thank you.
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The life of a performer is no easy path, and it requires an epic amount of patience, balance, focus, faith, and optimism. Its also tremendously exciting. I don't know what or where I'm going to be six months from now.
Want to join me on my journey?
<3.
Brittany
