Normally I wouldn’t post again so soon after already posting for the week (or would I? I haven’t exactly posted enough to establish a pattern yet, but I digress). However, certain happenings in my life have compelled me to put fingers to keyboard after only two days (or however many depending on when you read this). I won’t be very long, as I don’t want to clog up anyone’s newsfeed and I’m saving most of my thoughts on this topic for a later date. Basically, I want to offer a little kernel of advice to actors, Aspies, or anyone who’s willing to listen. Now I don’t claim to be an expert in any field nor do I have the best track record when it comes to giving advice, so take this with a grain of salt. Without further ado, here you go:

If you find yourself in an environment or a situation (say, a job) where you feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or are being made to feel inferior in any way, leave. Immediately. No questions asked.

Now, this doesn’t apply to every situation. Don’t go around jumping ship from certain situations because you can’t take a little criticism. Much as we’d all like to crawl into our own little Cinderella corners and lick our wounds when we’re not being told how fabulous we are, this method of coping will not do us any favors in the real world (trust me on this one, especially you actors). However there’s a huge difference between a fair and strict yet healthy working environment and the situation I described above. For instance, we’re all human, and as much as we hate to acknowledge it, we make mistakes. Mistakes are a common and expected part of any learning process; we can’t learn if we don’t make mistakes along the way. But it isn’t right (or lets face it, healthy) for someone to be in a space where they are in a state of constant fear and panic that they will make a mistake. For you see, not have I found that being afraid of making mistakes tends to beget MORE mistakes, but do you really want to be somewhere where you are put in that state? We humans deal with an unbelievable amount of crap (I would’ve used a stronger word, but I’m classy) every day of our lives. We don’t need people telling us that we are stupid or that there is something wrong with us (personally, I had enough of that in my emo phase, thank you very much). This goes double for people with Asperger’s, who tend to be hyper-sensitive, but I’ll get into that another day.

Well, there’s my attempt at an advice column. Hope y’all found it useful and sorry if it got a little heavy.

–Lizzy Andretta