Christian Actor Post 7: Fasting From TV & Movies

It's been five days. Five days since I have feasted my eyes on that colorful screen. It seems like longer. It feels like waking up.

So, I am on a week-long tv and movie fast. Why, you ask?

1. I was noticing that I preferred the screen world to the real world.

2. I am in a new city, and fighting the lonely urge to withdraw from the risk of new experiences where I might *gasp* be awkward.

3. My intense interest in the screen world was taking away the energy I can use to actually make my own life happen, to live my own daily life.

4. I was getting jealous of the characters onscreen, jealous of the way they were DOING things...and I was just sitting there. And I started to lose confidence in MY ability to actually DO things.

5. I am very empathetic and excitable, and can sort of forget what's real life and what's not--just ask my husband. I'm like a 5-year-old in this area, which makes me fun at parties...and really depressing after a depressing movie.

6. I am on a path of purification, following the Lord as He refines my heart, so that my pursuit of acting can be in line with His will, not mine. As part of that, I think he wants to get rid of something that is hurting me: this conviction that the screen world is better than the real world (anyone see Inception?). And that to live in that better world, I need to be an actor...instead of really living my own life, fully engaged, with a solid identity in how special I am because God loves me and sat down to a lump of clay, only to come up with me! That's pretty weighty. And amazing. This is not to say that I don't also have God-given good motives for acting, but there are some bad unfruitful branches on me that he is pruning. Here's the reference:

"He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."
-John 15:2, The Bible


The first stage of this TV & Movie fast was withdrawal, feeling like without my screen time, life was no longer colorful, beautiful, and exciting. (Don't tell anyone I said this, ok? It could be embarrassing if someone posted this on the internet for all the world to see.)

Plus, let's be honest here: Real life is pretty scary.

In the second stage, well, actually, simultaneous with the first stage, I noticed a newfound wealth of energy for things in my own life, like my relationship with my awesome hubby, for example. "Hello! Who are you? I like you! You're great. Wanna kiss me?" (Side note: When I studied in Italy, I learned that, "Bacciame cretino!" means, "Kiss me, stupid!" I give you permission to try it out--I am full of amazing tips like this one.)

So, yeah, this fast thing is working out pretty well. I'm not sure what the next step is, and I don't know that God wants me to go cold turkey for the rest of my life, but I'm really glad I took this risk. Like a fast from food, this is exposing my weaknesses--scary! But ALSO showing me ways that God wants to heal me and some of the ways I am scared to go to Him, thinking I can/need to take care of myself. Thank you, my good, good Daddy!

"But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."
-Ephesians 5:13-15, The Bible


Question: What have YOU learned from fasting?