POSITIVE OUTLOOK: Find Your Own Wilderness!
“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.”
- Alan Alda
There is so much I love about this quote from Alan Alda. But mostly his masterfully crafted phrase “the wilderness of your intuition.”
Go ahead and read it again. It’s a good one.
“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.
What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.” - Alan Alda
Every time I have faithfully followed my intuition in life, I have found myself walking down my right path.
Here are three examples that stand out to me the most:
Number One:
After returning home from working outside of LA one summer, I looked at my life, my current boyfriend, and the beautiful new home we had just moved into in the Hollywood hills, and I knew I had to leave. I had always wanted to live in New York, and my gut was telling me it was the time. So I packed a few boxes, booked a Jetblue flight, and left.
It didn’t make any “sense” to most of the people in my life. But I knew that it was now or never. My blinders were on, and there was no amount of good sense to stop me.
I lived there happily for five years.
Number Two:
My mother was planning a trip to France, and she decided to invite me along, very last minute. I had a job in New York, a boyfriend, auditions I thought I should stay in town for. But I decided to take her up on her offer.
I would be joining her and some friends in Paris, where we would be singing at a small jazz club for a few nights. While there, we were able to meet and become friendly with a lot of wonderful French people. And one French man in particular.
While riding home in a taxi one night from yet another incredible Parisian dinner, I looked at my mother, and I said, “I think this trip is changing my life.”
Four years later, and in just a few short weeks now, I will be marrying that wonderful French man, Edouard.
Number Three:
I have been a performer my whole life. I had always known what I wanted to do/be in life, and that was a musical theatre actress. I was destined to be on Broadway and that was that!
I studied my craft all through college. Performed the lead in many shows and had a lot of early success. But there was always this voice. This voice inside my head saying “This isn’t for you. There is more for you out there.”
This voice scared the crap out of me. I thought I wasn’t working hard enough, I thought I wasn’t “in my character” enough, focused enough, blah, blah. But the harder I worked, the louder the voice got. I wasn’t enjoying any of the auditions I was going on in New York. And every time my agent would call, I would groan. “Oh god…I am going to have to do this.”
Sometime during all of this discontentment, the idea of teaching popped into my mind. Initially this idea was met with an overwhelming sense of ickiness. “Teaching? Coaching other actors/singers? This is something people only do when they fail at performing! This is what my mother does! I don’t do this! What will people THINK!” But once I got past all of that bullshit, I just let it marinate for a while.
My French boyfriend and I had decided to move to Los Angeles. And I put together my first performance workshop. During that first class, I was so excited and completely freaked out the entire time. I left my studio in one of the greatest highs I have ever experienced. I knew that I had found “IT”. My calling. Something I felt I was born to do.
One year later, I was asked to be a vocal coach on one of the biggest television shows in the world.
The minute I began to trust my intuition, the trajectory of my life dramatically changed. And yes, it was a wild ride at times. I left out a few bumps in the road from my tales, but I think you get the gist.
My sincere hope for you, reader, is this:
Go out and find your own wilderness.
And when the lions, tigers, and bears show up, trust that your intuition will always be your guide. You might even find exactly what you have been searching for all along. And OH MY…what a delight that will be.
Adriana McPhee has performed on some of the world’s greatest stages, from Paris to Los Angeles to New York.
At the prestigious Broadway Theatre Project Adriana received her training from such consummate professionals as Ann Reinking, Ben Vereen, Gregory Hines, Frank Wildhorn and Julie Andrews. In addition to her years of training at the Broadway Theatre Project, Adriana completed a four year conservatory training at Webster University where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre.
Adriana is the scion of an acclaimed show business family: her father is writer and producer, Dan McPhee, her mother is celebrity voice teacher and American Idol vocal coach, Peisha McPhee, and her sister is the star of the NBC show, SMASH, and American Idol runner up, Katharine McPhee.
Adriana is currently a vocal coach on Season 11′s AMERICAN IDOL. Additionally she continues teaching privately out of McPhee International Vocal Studios in Los Angeles.
Website: VOCALLESSONSLA
Twitter: @AdrianaMcPhee
