the clark kent of cubicle life

If you've been keeping up with the headlines, you'll know we've been in a recession for quite some time now. Corporate America has been downsizing and cost cutting to the point where pennies have little left for pinching. And the workforce that remains in the office, dutifully migrating to their airless cubicles, must do more with less, put up with more and get paid less. I am a very competent worker bee. I appreciate my day job, which allows me to live a decent life and sustains my VO pursuits. But as an artist and a professional, I do not appreciate hearing subjective (typically negative) feedback without some additional (positive) direction. For lack of better terms, it feels crappy.

Which is why the last couple of weeks have been tough on my corporate life. I feel like Superman - by day, I'm the Clark Kent of cubicle life, attacking projects, presentations & emails with nerdy gusto. By evening, Super(wo)man - flying from work to improv to VO to practice to auditions....And directionless feedback is my Kryptonite. It took the wind out of my sails (cape?). Other than get defensive (unproductive) or mad (same), what do you do with that?

Thank goodness for the long weekend. I took those days to read, reflect, write and just be. And what I realized is this:
1) pull the practical information out, if you can, and start taking action. there might be a nugget of truth in that feedback, so if there is use it.
2) discard the rest. it's garbage, put it in the trash.
3) remember you have goals that exist beyond the corporate world, and to stay focused on them. it's easy to get distracted by the naysayers. let your passion for your work/vocation and your ideals push you beyond that.
4) this too shall pass. so take a deep breath and exhale.

The net result (so far): The transformation of negative energy into positive results - I now have two clean closets, a new home studio set up, a journal full of ideas and a clearer, more focused frame of mind.