Advice on burning the midnight oil!
When I set myself a challenge, failure is never an option but sadly sometimes it is the outcome. It is inevitable when trying new things that some things will work and others will flop.
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My July challenge began with a simple goal. Perform ten magic shows for the same group with each show being completely different. Then the challenge became every show had to have a new theme. Finally the theme took over and it has literally become a full production twice a week.
If you know me well you know when I take on a project or make one up I give it everything!
When I work on something I put every bit of energy and thought into it to make it shine. Even if that means not eating and sleeping.
Although it is a positive thing to have a good work ethic and work hard for a living. As a Saturday’s child always does, at times it eventually gets too much! And there is no magical drink to cure you if your bucket empties.
Have you filled your bucket today?
Weirdly I learnt this phrase from my sister and her son, Matthew. It’s a way for children to understand their emotions and feelings. Each of us have a bucket. If you allow that bucket to empty, you feel exhausted, drained and unable to cope with things.
The bucket is a metaphor to help us to visualise how we feel inside.
Let’s imagine this bucket represents our bodies and mindset.
The goal is to begin each day with a full bucket. To do this we need,
- Rest
- Good Food
- Happy thoughts
- Air
- Space
- Time to think
For whatever reason if you go through a period of time that is busy or you live in a stressful environment. Or people are demanding too much of you and you don’t look after yourself – daily life begins to unravel.
Mollie’s 6th Birthday Party
Please can I have some more?
Being the very giving person that I am I absolutely hate letting people down. So much so I am going to say it again, I hate letting people down! I find it so hard to say no. But in saying yes to everything I have very little time for myself. I enjoy helping everyone immensely! However I must also remind myself to stop and just take some time out for me – to refill my bucket!
What being a magician full time means to me?
Lot’s of people, friends, family and magicians message me daily and I love keeping in touch with everyone.
Please don’t stop messaging me! But understand that if I do not message you back right away, or miss meetings or generally am quiet, it’s not because I don’t have time for you or care. I care too much!
It’s because I am completely and utterly exhausted.
I do know you all know this. Just sometimes my brain convinces me that I am letting you all down.
Magic is my life!
I love my job so much! I spend every waking moment, reading, making, creating, watching and developing my performances in my room right now.
Right now this is my sole focus and it is keeping me going during this incredibly difficult year.
I promise when my bucket is full I will respond to you. I’ll be ready to chat, laugh and inspire. Most importantly I’ll be the Nikola you all love and want to spend some time with again. As I do you.
I am so lucky to have you all. My friends, family and magic companions – much love to you wherever you all are. May we all hug again soon!
Blog Bonus
I thought it might be worthwhile popping this up here. Lots of people have seen me creating shows online for my July Challenge. One show in particular inspired this blog post because after I performed it I felt rubbish. Embarrassed and annoyed at myself because a lot of things went wrong. Or rather not the way I had planned them too. Mostly due to exhaustion. I bit off more than I could chew that particular week!
I have found making two brand new shows a week there is a reoccurring pattern in the creative process. One show is really planned tight and scripted and goes to plan. The other is chaotic and anything goes.
A side note…
Though I did manage to break the pattern this week. As I made two wonderfully flowing performances with my Alice and Mystical East shows.
When I watched the Paris show material back I realised that it really wasn’t as bad as I thought. My sister also told me that my nephew (who has autism and has a very hard time sitting watching anything apart from YouTube for very long) sat the full time engaged. It’s funny how the way we feel about something sometimes does not coincide with the actual reality of what happened. A little reminder to keep my brain in check.
As one cannot give a hug or cake in 2020…
I thought I’d share some snippets from my Parisian show for your delight and delectation. Hopefully it will at least make you all smile and laugh at my bad jokes – which I love!
Big thank you goes out to Rafael! For the easel effect from his Ali Bongo lecture at Blackpool. I made that prop with my dads drill, a Dremel and my bare hands!
To Hanna for the beautiful idea of creating an image for finale production of my newspaper trick.
Lastly to Tom – for his amazing description of his Benson Burner trick in Vortex. Which I read, practiced and performed live within 24 hours. This I am of course biased about, but Tom is just the best at explaining things – even to this simple Belfast girl who used to think she couldn’t understand anything in magic. Enjoy!
I cannot wait to develop my version of the routine. And when it’s complete I look forward to performing it fully one day on stage, live for real people!
One final note. Look for inspiration everywhere you never know when you will need it and find a good use for it!