Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Natalie Roy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Natalie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
My entire creative life is based on curiosity and questioning so I find it incredibly healthy to question; am I happy? Could I be more fulfilled? Do I still love this thing I have chosen? Am I still passionately in love or has it become routine or habitual?
The question itself is powerful. It unlocks gifts and insights. Being afraid to ask the question because we are too many years down the line of this one path or feel a lack of identity without what we have build thus far creates a fear and scarcity frequency within ourselves that can only hold us back from knowing just how much we can actually do and be here. As George Eliot is quoted, “it is never too late to be what you might have been.”
I also love what Mark Mason and Elizabeth Gilbert say about this topic. That every job comes with a “shit sandwich” The idea goes that anything we do, anything we love, anything worthwhile comes a shit sandwich and we get to decide if it is shit we want to eat. And we get to recommit to that choice (or not) everyday, every hour, every minute.
If I had any other job some of the “shit” of my current reality would lift, but it would also be replaced with new shit. Different shit. So the question: is there some place else I would rather be, is wonderfully healthy, so long as I know that anywhere else I would be, would also have its challenges. Life is not about looking for the most challenge-less way of being but rather deciding where my expression comes through me in the way that has the most impact for myself and those I share myself with.
Two “happiness” rules I have for myself in relation to my vocation are first: taking full sovereign ownership of everything in my life as my own choice and second: being absolutely and utterly present in my relationship to what I have chosen.
So first: everything in my life is here by my own design, not by default. I accept responsibility for all of it. Responsibility of that which I love and that which is annoying me or feeling frustrating. If being an actor is hard then it is a hard I choose and I do my very best not to whine about it. If being a creator or a business owner is challenging then I accept that challenge as the growth my soul came to experience and I get curious about who I get to be in relation to the challenge.
Secondly I devote my presence to what I am experiencing. The audition I am doing; I do it as if it could be my last. I do not waste my time judging what I am putting out there or in self doubt or wishing I was further along in my mastery. I acknowledge that this moment is a gift and one I will never open again. I savor it. I get grateful for it and I let it live through me. When it is over, I let it go and open myself to be available to the next creation, the next opportunity, the next role.
This way of creating my life is in deep connection to serving that wherever I am or whatever I am doing happiness a decision I make, not a condition I chase.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am an actor, author, acting mentor, on set coach, podcaster and someone devoted to creative living. I became an actor over twenty years ago and on my path I got fiercely devoted to helping other actors feel empowered and in sharing how we can all authentically translate our gifts onto stage and screen. I studied yoga, meditation therapy, somatic work, positive psychology, peak performance and the craft of acting itself to bring my work and the work of my clients to a level of activation and authenticity that I am so proud of. I have helped thousands of actors book jobs and land in the life of their dreams.
I created an acting technique that is unparalleled in results. This method combines detailed analysis with energetic work that allows an actor to have full access to their instrument and to remember themselves as the star and powerful channel they already are.
I work with actors on set, in auditions, in coaching programs and through my podcast offering support and inspiration and in my own craft in a way where people leave elevated and in their sovereign expression.
Having this creative channel activated has also allowed me to produce, direct, write screenplays, author books, and lead many courses for actors and creatives. I get to see the miracles of expanded capacity in my clients on the daily.
What one dreams for themselves is the dream itself choosing that person as its perfect vessel for creation. My speciality is helping one remember.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Defining yourself as a non-creative is a self limiting definition. Creativity is an expression available to everyone. Those who feel a deeper connection to creativity are simply those more attuned to, or practiced with its presence. Just like a muscle, the more you work it, the more it builds. Human life is the greatest creativity. As a woman carries a baby she holds the space for its creation and the creative growth just happens. She doesn’t have to sit and think “grow little fingers, grow!” They just do. It is the most natural thing. Creation is always waiting for a vessel for it to come through. We only have to open ourselves to be available.
If a creative life has felt off the table or the volume on your own creative impulses feels turned way down, then start by simply asking of your life..what would be fun? What would feel interesting? What would make me feel truly alive?
Also, start wandering. Wander down a street you have never seen before, drive a new way, stop and try a new dish. Creativity is available and waiting for our senses to grow to hear it. As you begin living into a more creative life, the ideas and impulses that perhaps were suppressed, will emerge.
Creativity often comes when and where we least expect it. Allowing yourself to enter into a conversation with what could feel new and interesting from a creative stand point is sometimes as simple as just redefining yourself as someone with access to it. Open up into curiosity and a beginners mind. Be willing to try something new at any age just for the heck of it. Not to be “good” or to take it on as a new career path or hobby but just to open the pathway in your brain and nervous system for newness and sensorily experiencing life anew. You can’t mess it up. It doesn’t have to look a certain way. Just get curious.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The goal that drives everything I do is my personal legacy of empowerment through connection. As artists, creatives and storytellers our biggest asset is empathy and our ability to build connection and remind audiences, viewers and fellow creatives that we are strongest in our connection with one another. Learning to support not compete. Learning to cheer not judge. Learning to motivate and inspire not tear down and take from.
The ideas that will change our world are here. We need each other to bring them forth.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.natalieroy.com
- Instagram: @missnatalieroy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/392973526910078
- Other: https://www.thecreateseries.com
Image Credits
Yuko Kudo
Jeffrey Moiser