Hi Reader,

I did a 500-piece puzzle on Smith Island with my parents this week. Took us two days. I am not a puzzle person. Or — I'm a puzzle person about three days a year, when I'm somewhere with no Wi-Fi, a kitchen table and people I'm related to.

Here's what I noticed:

My brain went somewhere else. I used a different gear. It went slower. My mom and I worked on a shared thing with no leader and no urgency. Nobody performed. Nobody hustled. A picture came together piece by piece. And I thought: I should do this more. Why don't I do this more?

Then I thought: this is a muscle I need to strengthen.

We took this trip for my mother. She turned 80 this year, and to experience Smith Island is what she wanted. I usually get back east from LA once — maybe twice — a year, so my time at home is precious. My mom used to make spreadsheets of every activity she wanted us to do while I was there so that we would spend the time intentionally. Not waste a day. Not even waste an hour.

This year there was no spreadsheet. She has slowed down. We just planned one or two things to do each day.

I enjoyed this trip more.

We did our sightseeing in a golf cart that I drove. The island is tiny. We went slow. We saw two churches and the marshland and

dozens of dilapidated houses and crab shanties, and we swatted at the army air force of black flies. That was about as much as my parents could handle. We had lunch at the tiny diner — a soft shell crab sandwich, an ice cream cone, three York peppermint patties. And we shared a Schweppes ginger ale. Then we drove back to the inn in the golf cart and worked on the puzzle.

That was the day.

That was enough.

I've been an actor for thirty-plus years. I've always felt my career was a ticking clock, a time bomb — hurry up, get the credits, get the experience, get the series regular role before they decide you're invisible, or bad, before I age into a range that has no more roles. My divorce added its own version of the pressure: The catch up. Get back on track. Be further along than you are....

I found out this week that Smith Island is sinking. Eroding into the Chesapeake by inches a year. We sat at a kitchen table at sea level putting together a 500-piece puzzle while the actual island disappeared under us. Two opposing truths, both true at once, at the same damn time.

We talked about this in class this week — Opposites. Two opposing truths that can be true at once.

I love my parents AND they drive me absolutely crazy.

My mom slowed down AND this trip got richer.

I'm still here AND the industry has a clock on me.

Wanting someone and wanting them gone. Booking the job and still feeling like a fraud. Being confident and terrified. Being still here AND not knowing what's next.

The most alive performances live in the AND. Not the OR.

If you've never watched Doubt — this seven-minute scene with Viola Davis and Meryl Streep in the park is a demonstration in opposites — go watch it now. I'll wait.

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Watch Davis not flinch from two truths at the same time — I love my son AND I know what's happening to him. She lets herself do what she must in each moment. Snot. Tears. No edit. No nudge over the top of the feeling. She refuses to be hurried.

That is craft.

This is what we work on inside the Craft + Career Lab. Not performing harder, but allowing, giving ourselves permission to entertain the opposites — specificity, behavior, letting time land in each take, holding two truths at once instead of choosing the one that's easier to play.

We start Tuesday, June 16. We meet Tuesdays weekly, 11 AM – 1 PM PT.

Hot Off My Brain 🧠 & Other Good 💩: A Curated List of Stuff I'm Lovin'

Some of these links are affiliate — I'll always flag them with a 💸 so you know. I will only ever share stuff I truly love and actually use. Your trust is worth way more to me than a few ill-gotten shekels. I swear. ✋🏼

🚤 Where I’m staying — If you make the trip to Smith Island, I'd stay at Susan's. It's a bungalow-style home built in 1949 with just two rooms for rent with a screened in porch facing the Chesapeake Bay and cute quiet dining room and sitting room - perfect for doing puzzles.

🧩 What I’m doing — A 500-piece puzzle with people I love. No music. No podcast. No narration. Just sitting there letting my brain work differently for a while. Weirdly healing. 💸

🍻 What I’m drinking — Smith Island is dry, so we packed wine and beer for the trip. On night two we realized the beer was actually 0.0% non-alcoholic. We drank it anyway. Honestly? Still kind of delightful. Two truths at the same time.

BTW, my dad drives with two GPSs running simultaneously and stresses about which one to obey. Two truths at the same time, but make it anxious. 😬

Talk soon!!!

Adria

P.S. Know an actor who'd thrive in the Craft + Career Lab? Forward this their way → Or did some cool person forward this to you? If so you can Subscribe here.