End Of Year Career Reviews
Narrators will be posting their accomplishments for the year. Their accomplishments aren’t a reflection of your worth.
Every end of year, narrators (and probably other creatives) post their accomplishments for the year. For narrators, this can look like number of books performed, hours in the studio, awards achieved, publishers worked for. It’s great to celebrate these achievements. Amazing even. But it can have a peculiar effect when you’re scrolling through social media and it seems that everyone has accomplished so much more than you: they’ve performed more books, have more accolades, are on more rosters.
It can trigger a spiral.
Don’t let it.
This career is wild. There are normal ups and downs, ebbs and flows, and someone else’s success doesn’t equal your failure. Maybe it’s just their time in the spotlight. Maybe they have some skills or a background that make them especially popular with what’s being published now. Maybe they’ve been working really really hard for years and are finally reaching some goals.
Try to separate your success from others. Take a look at your goals and look at what you’ve achieved in a broader context: do you have a really complicated life and schedule and yet you managed to still book gigs? That’s a win! Booking gigs at all is a win. Did you attend some classes? Did you work with a coach? Did you post to social media (once or a thousand times)? Did you balance some self care with working hours? Did you go out with loved ones, take time with your kiddos, did you watch Netflix and relax? Those are wins too.
This is a hard job. A hard career. If you’re spiraling a little, breathe deep, and know you’re not alone. Think of things you accomplished in your family, with loved ones, the connections you made, the creative life you’re living. What has nourished you over the year? What have you gone through? Every day is an achievement.
Not everything in our lives or our careers get the spotlight. That’s okay. Remember that social media is a platform where people show and share the shininess of life, but there’s more to life than the glitter. There’s real struggle, and sometimes even a small accomplishment of getting in the booth to record for an hour, can be a massive win.
Be proud of yourself, your accomplishments, the very real steps you are taking. It’s worthy.
And so are you.
:)
Happy holidays, and here’s to a new year of good work, great connection, and so much belly laughter.
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TANYA EBY is a narrator, casting director, and writer. Support her work by becoming a paid subscriber. You don’t really get anything special except access to all posts, but you will help underwrite this Substack so Tanya can keep posting free articles. Or if a paid subscriber isn’t doable, please share this Substack with others, like the post, comment, whatever feels good.
I love this perspective and the idea of reflecting on what has nourished me this year. Thank you. I'm off to snuggle a little 2 year old and pretend I know things about Optimus Prime. (I do not know things.) Happy Holidays, Tanya! ❤️
So important to remember. Happy holidays, my friend. ❤️