Believing in Yourself: The Key to Joy in Acting

Acting asks a lot of us, right?! It asks us to be open, curious, imaginative, and brave enough to show who we really are. But when you don’t believe in yourself, that becomes almost impossible. Low self-esteem doesn’t just make you doubt your talent. It quietly shapes the way you approach your work and also life outside of the work. You start worrying about what people think, (you should look into Mel Robbin’s ‘Let Them Theory’)  about being good enough, about how you compare to everyone else. And before you know it, acting stops feeling alive. It starts feeling heavy.

When you don’t have a solid sense of self-worth, you begin chasing validation instead of truth. Every note from a teacher or reaction from a scene partner becomes something you read into. You stop taking chances in your work because you’re afraid of being wrong - I think we’ve all felt that at times.  The joy that used to come from discovery and play gets replaced by anxiety and control. You can end up trying to perform well rather than express something real.

Acting thrives on presence and trust. When you trust yourself, you allow your instincts to guide you. When you don’t, you overthink every move, every line, every moment. This doesn’t just hold you back creatively. It also robs you of the deep sense of fulfillment that comes from feeling connected to your work. Self-doubt is one of the biggest joy killers an actor can face.

Building self-esteem isn’t about becoming overly confident. It’s about being kind to yourself and recognizing your own humanity. You can start by noticing when your inner critic takes over and choosing not to believe everything it says. Remember that mistakes are part of the process. You usually learn more from your mistakes than by perfecting things. Growth doesn’t come from getting everything right but from staying open and learning as you go.

It’s also important to celebrate your small wins. Every moment of bravery, every honest scene, every time you show up even when you’re nervous, matters. I recommend writing in a notebook or journal all the small (and large) wins you have, even if you felt the class/scene/audition/performance was a disaster. Train your brain to be kinder to yourself as a flawed artist and human. Over time, this builds a quiet trust in yourself. You begin to see that you don’t need to earn your worth through perfection. You already have something to offer just by being you.

When you believe in yourself, you start to work from a place of freedom. You connect more deeply, listen more fully, and find joy again in the craft. How wonderful! Acting becomes less about proving yourself and more about sharing yourself. And that is when your work, and your experience of it, truly starts to come alive.

Keep up the great work!

M :) 

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