How "WORTHY" Made Me a Better Performer.

Hey y’all: Chelsea here.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I talk about something called “WORTHY” a lot, but you may not actually know what it is. WORTHY is “a course and community that focuses on embracing and loving yourself as you are, stepping into knowing your innate worth, leadership, and the power you hold to welcome more love, abundance, adventure, fun, connection, healing, and compassion into your life, and harnessing your ability to use your gifts for the benefit of others and the planet” (https://www.melissamoffet.com/worthy). Notice how the description says nothing about “acting” or “performing”? That’s because 1. This course was created by an influencer outside of my theatre circle and 2. This course is designed for anybody and everybody.

A little over two years ago, I got really into the yoga scene on Instagram. I started a brand new Instagram (which is my main ‘gram that I use today) to specifically follow yoga accounts and to work towards creating content like those that I followed. I posted my yoga content multiple times a day every day, looking to become a part of this community, deepen my practice, and (if I’m being honest) gain thousands of followers. In this birth of a new account and a new me, I discovered Melissa Moffet. She, at the time, mainly posted pretty yoga photos and dance videos, but she also spoke about the importance of a healthy mindset. One day, I noticed that she was doing a giveaway of her meditation guides, and to enter, you had to let her know why it was important to you.

I DM’d her explaining how I was terrified to meditate (but I wanted to try again) due to some extenuating circumstances that were going on in my life (that when I wrote out in a message, seemed absolutely crazy to me. “She probably thinks I’m batshit crazy” I remember thinking”). She was so kind to me and genuinely responded with her thoughts, advice, and questions. I could instantly tell that she was a kind-hearted, down-to-earth soul. I didn’t end up winning that giveaway, but my love for her and her content continued to grow after that first interaction with her. A few months after that, she announced that she was doing a workshop in SoHo called “The Worthiness Workshop”. I immediately signed up. On whatever day it was in March 2019, I went down to the city and participated in the workshop, and let me tell you, it was TRANSFORMATIONAL. I was already aware of the shifts that come with meditation and journaling as I experienced that in my yoga teacher training, but something about this experience was different. Instead of just letting go of negative thoughts, I also became hyper-aware of them and where they stemmed from. This was all in the span of an hour and a half, mind you. When I left, I said I was going to start journaling and meditating every day. Obviously, I did not because that is a commitment that you have to constantly work to build. But, as I continued to sporadically journal and meditate, the benefits that came with it made my commitment more regular, ultimately leading to a pretty regular self-care practice.

A few months later, Melissa announced on her Instagram that she was hosting a retreat in Iceland and I so badly wanted to go. Being the fresh-outta-college girl that I was, I was pretty poor (and I still am) and therefore could not afford to go. Melissa was so awesome and tried to give me different payment options and plans, but ultimately, I couldn’t go. During the time, she had also been posting about her new course called “WORTHY”, which peaked my interest, but I was not sure if it was the right fit for me. The next day, she reached out to me to ask me if I’d be interested in joining WORTHY. I was definitely interested in being in the course, but I was also kind of afraid of what she would think of me if I was in the course. Would she think I was “broken” or that I “needed therapy” or that I would be “too emotional”? This is what I thought my characteristics would be if I joined this course. I’m pretty sure I made some sort of excuse to her like “yeah, maybe, but I also don’t know if I need this kind of course”. She explained to me that this course was in no way therapy, but a tapping into your innate power. She also gave me the room to breathe and figure it out for myself if this course resonated with me.

Later that day, I had a complete breakdown about where I was in life. I had just graduated, I wasn’t seeing my college friends anymore, I was about to move to a new location to try and start my impossible career, and I just felt lost. I felt the emotional hardships of moving through a tough, transitional period. I decided right then and there that I needed to take this course.

Before you know it, it was August and WORTHY was beginning! Yay! Week by week, we (the others in the course and I) had material to work through which consisted of videos, meditations, journaling prompts, affirmations, tapping, and more. We met once a week as a group for a live Zoom call where we talked about the week’s work and shared some thoughts. It was amazing. All of a sudden, I had this community of badass women experiencing all of the same things as me. All of us working through difficulties, having epic realizations, letting go of what we no longer needed, and welcoming in new opportunities. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but all of it was good.

At the end of the course, Melissa announced that this community was going to be a lifetime deal. Not only would you have access to all the material for a lifetime (which we already knew), but the Facebook group would continue to be a space to share not only with our WORTHY class, but with past and future classes alike. We were going to become one huge WORTHY group. While the initial work that I did in the parametered course was life changing for me, I think the continuation of the community benefitted me in even greater ways. I had (and still have) the privilege of meeting people all across the world who are in different stages of growth and who love to cheer each other on. I have/had the privilege of working with guest coaches who specialize in other types of self-care work that surrounds Melissa’s. I know that if I feel lost, I have something very practical to turn towards to help me find my way.

So, WHAT DOES THIS ALL HAVE TO DO WITH BEING A PERFORMER?

I’m sure you can draw some obvious conclusions based on what you have already read, but on top of that, I am going to give you a very specific example of a revelation I had which ultimately led me to be a better performer. And when I say better, I mean WORLDS better.

One weekend shortly after the COVID-19 Pandemic forced us all into quarantine, Melissa had a guest coach on a Zoom call whose name is Olivia Westerman. Something that she said to all of us on the call completely shifted my thought pattern. The thing is, Melissa’s work had been saying this already, but something about that time, that place, the way that Olivia said this, hit me so hard. I felt like I woke up. I couldn’t believe that it hadn’t sunk in with me before. She said “our subconscious takes the words that we say to ourselves and reflects them into our reality to make them true”. Our subconscious takes the words that we say to ourselves and reflects them into our reality to make them true. It was in that moment that I realized, every single time during my college career (and in my life) that I said to myself “I’m not as good of a singer as her” “I’m not the best at acting” :My dancing looks sloppy” “I don’t have a lot of friends” “People don’t like me” “They don’t view me as a leader” “I’m not popular” “I’m not inspirational” “I’m not ready” and SO MUCH MORE, I was making those statements TRUE. It started with maybe saying those things once or twice to myself, looking for something or someone to prove me wrong, and then when they didn’t, I would believe it. And then when I believed it, I subconsciously acted as though it were true. Through those actions, I guarded myself, wasn’t confident, played it small, didn’t try to make new friends, apologized for anything creative that I did, and ultimately just held myself back from being successful. All those things I thought about myself were absolutely true: because I MADE them true.

I immediately decided I was done feeling sorry for myself. I was done thinking poorly about myself. I started to tell myself things that made me feel good. “I’m an incredibly talented singer” “My acting may be a work in progress, but where I’m at is GREAT” “I don’t need validation from others to know I’m great” “I AM a leader and I AM inspirational” “People like me” and other positive affirmations to make my reality what I want it to be. And you know what? It WORKED. My singing voice got so much stronger in a short amount of time. I was contracted to work with a children’s theatre company for the summer (which ended up falling through because of COVID, but that’s not the point), my engagement on my Instagram skyrocketed, I overall became happier, and the goals I wanted to attain in the future became clearer and felt closer than ever before.

As performers, we have grown up hearing about other performers who are “jerks” or “hard to work with” and we have this fear that we will become that some day. So we try to juggle being confident enough to succeed but not so confident that we come off as intimidating or arrogant. After awhile, it feels like you have to choose between one or the other: will you be successful or humble? What WORTHY taught be is that I don’t have to choose. I can be both. Through a regular meditation and journaling practice, I can let go of my fears and elevate my worthiness so that I can achieve everything I want AND I can also ground myself in gratitude, appreciation, and self-awareness. I can be confident and humble. I can be vulnerable and strong. I can be successful and human.

Just like any kind of life-changing practice like working out, eating healthy, yoga, education, it is an ongoing practice. You don’t just realize your innate worthiness one day and then you’re set for the rest of your life. You constantly need to uncover the beliefs that no longer serve you, those around you, the planet, to make room for that which does serve you. But it’s worth it. It will always be worth it.

You have the power to take responsibility for your life and transform it. If WORTHY sounds like something you’d be interested in, please feel free to reach out. I would love to chat more in depth about my experience so that you can decide if it is a right fit for you. You can email me using the contact form or via Instagram @shadesofchels . Also, check out Melissa’s and Olivia’s ‘gram @melissa.moffet and @wildsageandbone .