How do you know when you’ve gone too far?

There are few things more satisfying than an artistic challenge. A juicy lead role, an 11 o’clock number 8 times a week, an intricate movement sequence, a giant monologue in a long shot. All are opportunities for us actors to expand our creative range.

We stretch our artistic limits by working on this kind of material. Especially in classes, workshops, and trainings, we try new techniques, different choreography, complex sides, kick inhibiting habits…all for us to grow professionally.

And it feels so good to nail a challenge! It can be stressful and intense, but it’s that good stress. The stress that is exciting and a little scary. Not only is it rewarding, it also can boost our confidence, trust, and belief in ourselves as artists.

As an actor, I love a challenge. I’m not always sure how I’ll make it through (or if I can), but it’s fun to not have it all figured out. And even though it requires effort and stretching my limits, I’m able to connect, energize the material, and then easily return to my daily life feeling stronger.

But how do we know when we’ve gone too far?

How do we know when we’re no longer stretching ourselves artistically, but pushing far past our professional limits?

Performing in general is mentally, physically and emotionally demanding, even before we have the added stress of intense material! Culturally, we are conditioned to always push and throw more energy at it in service of our artistic growth. Go deeper into a character, push harder at that dance call, raise the stakes, run from one audition to the next, to the next…

That plus the fact that we are biologically built to over-respond to stress (better safe than sorry!), means that pushing through can become our go-to response. When the stress increases, when the show must go on, we automatically throw more energy, more attention, more of ourselves at the situation.

And look, we want to grow as artists! But there is a fine line between stretching our artistic edge and blowing past it. If we are constantly overextending, if that is our only way of working, it will exhaust us. Over time, we’ll burn out and we may even have difficulty coming home to ourselves (I’m thinking about that role, audition, show, or shoot that stuck with us long after it was over).

Most of us as artists (and frankly humans) aren’t taught to how to learn our professional limits. We’re famously not supposed to have any (“yes, and!”) and also, stress changes our perception. It’s very common for us to only assess if (and how far) we went, when the show, role, audition is over. Makes it hard to know in the moment when we’re up against an artistic edge vs overshooting it!

Anyone who’s been injured while performing knows this. When I rolled my ankle on stage, I finished the rest of the show, ignoring that discomfort. It was only when I got home, that my ankle started hurting like hell! The stress of “the show must go on” prevented me from feeling the pain until after the performance was over.

So what to do?

How do we learn our professional limits?

Some of us do it through trial and error. For me, I found making list helpful to start building that awareness. But making the list was very different than knowing what to do with it. Especially when stressing out at that big audition!

The game changer for me was building an embodied practice. I learned tools and cues for when I was going too far and how to course correct in the moment. I can now recover my energy as I go (no more constantly overshooting). Energy that I can channel back into my work without losing any of my artistic edge, or just send it back into my life! I help others build a practice like this.

If we always have a practice of regulating (and coming home to ourselves), we no longer have to be scared of going too far. We’ll have the agency to change course whenever we want! This takes so much pressure off of us, helping us get back to artistic growth, and back to telling the story.

So what are your cues that you’ve gone too far?

Can you clock them in the moment?

How do you then pivot or dial back without losing artistic intensity?

If you’re curious to know more, check out a free info session or work with me privately here.