Lisa Jakub's Blog, page 4

Unpopular authenticity: so…you don’t have kids?

I was shamed by a nine-year-old the other day.

She stood there, hands on hips, glaring up at me. She’d just asked me if I had kids. I told her that I did not.

“Why?”

“I never felt that was the right choice for me.”

She told me thatmy life was boring and sad.

It was actually pretty cute.

What took the sting out of her statement was the fact that grownups have been shaming me over this for quite some time. Sometimes they attempt to lessen the blow by saying something along the lines of – “you d...

Thank you and a sale!

Thank you so much to all of you who have bought my book. It is currently in Amazon’s Top Ten Actor Memoirs! (And, oddly enough, it’s #1 in Dancer Memoirs, which is random but I’ll take it.)

You Look Like That Girl is available forjust $2.99 as a Kindle Monthly Deal – but only for the next week! And you also have the option of adding on the audiobook for just $3.99.

And in case you missed it– here is the proof of how I suffered while recording the audiobook.

So it’s totally worth $3.99.

I am...

Why you are never old enough to be too old

I am so old.
I’ve been working at the same job for eighteen years. What else can I do?
I am definitely too old.

This was my constant inner monologue.

When I was twenty-two.

I was an actor, living in the epicenter of our youth-obsessed culture: Los Angeles. Other people might have defined me as “successful” but success was a mirage that inevitably dissolved every time it seemed like I could grasp it. I signed autographs while out at restaurants or late for my root canal. But I got to a point w...

Looking back: lessons of 2015

I tend to be a pensive person anyway, but the fact that Christmas, my birthday and New Years all cram into one week –I go into major reflective mode.

It was a complicated year in many ways. But isn’t that how it always goes? Ups and downs, success and challenges, joy and suffering. ButI learned some important things this year:

Getting comfortable withbeing uncomfortablecan have some seriousrewards

This one shocks me. Public speakingseems like a terribleidea for an introvert with social anxie...

Panic in the produce aisle: dealing with loss at the holidays

I think it was mostly about the way the collar of her denim shirt was flipped up all wonky on one side.

I couldn’t stop staring at the woman in the Whole Foods. I watched her shuffle along, pushing one of those tiny carts with just a few lemons and a box of salad in it.

Her hair was thin and silvery and it flippedin at her jawline in a way that thin hair doesn’t do naturally. She must usethose pink plastic foamy rollers. I would find those little rollers randomly strewn around my house after...

Follow your bliss…backlash

I think you can find criticismfor pretty much anything. I recently had someone say he was never going to read anything else from me because I wished for peace for everyone in the world.

Eating healthy? That’s the wrong kind of healthy.

Helping people? Don’t help them too much.

Cute cats? Hey, why are you discriminating against dogs?

So, it shouldn’t be surprising that there is some push-back about this idea of living a life based in passion.

And I get it. People like toargue about things.But...

I’ve got a box of books, you’ve got presents to buy…

In case you want to get your holiday shopping done right now, you can order signed and personalized copies of my memoir – You Look Like That Girl – by clicking here.You don’t even have to put on real pants and leave your house.

And yes, international shipping is available! Don’t forget to include the name of the person that you want it inscribed to, and I’ll write (almost) anything you’d like me to write.

As always, I am wildly appreciative of all of you.

Happy December,

~L

“So, what do you do?”

I met someone recently and attempted to do that small talk thing, which, as an introvert, I generally find as pleasant as a paper cut to the eyeball. But just when I was expecting that boring old “So, what to you do?” question – she shocked me by asking me how I “spent my time.”

I loved that. That had such a sense of depth to it. Because none of us need tobe defined by our jobs.

Since bailing on and starting over, I’ve donea lot of things. I’ve been an animal shelter voluntee...

An open letter to artists (I’m sorry, but it’s for your own good)

“Throes of Creation” – Leonid Pasternak

Dear writers,

I love you. You are my people. But please, please – stop whining about writing.

I recently read the introduction to a book that started with the author going on for eight pages about how hard it is to write a book. At the end of it, I felt like telling her – good God, don’t write a book then! Go knit a sweater or paint something or join a soccer team! Do something that makes you happy! Why do I want to participate in something that you cal...

For the love of an old dog

photo by Sarah Cramer Shields

My best friend is walking a little slower these days. The dog who once drove me crazy begging for her dinner, now mostly sniffs it and needs to be coaxed to eat. She is deaf.She gets confused.She still gets excited to go for walks, but when we get four houses down the street, she’s ready to go back home again. In the morning, she pauses at the top of the stairs, nervous that her legs might not work the way they used to.

So, I carry her down the stairs.
And clean...