We recently connected with Jessica Gomez Lopez and have shared our conversation below.
Jessica, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
The only thing so far that has gotten me to be confident rather than “feeling” confident is the work. Preparation is what has led me to be confident, in spite of what my mind can tell me at certain moments. I think the more you develop your own discipline and consistency that it’s what takes you to a place of confidence and then self-esteem is discovered within that process. Even though, the journey to self-esteem is to value yourself for who you are and not what you do. There’s a thin line among both these qualities for me, but I think we need them both. Confidence and self-esteem. To manage and be at peace with both of them we just have to find our way through by experience or what we call, trial and error until the ground becomes more solid for us, like the roots of a tree.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
What I do is act. I am an actress and artist. I’m learning that those two words are not necessarily the same thing. But I have so much to learn and expand on. But I guess something closer to my heart and to describe more of my essence is, I tell stories. That’s really it. I love telling stories. I’ve always been surrounded by great storytellers, even though I don’t think they know that, and I don’t think I realized that at the moment, but as I’ve lived more, I’ve come to realize that life and its “outcome” (whatever that means) depends on the story you believe. So I tell stories as an act of need for myself and an act of want to others and serve. Service is the hardest field, but I think ultimately, we are all called to serve one way or another. Anywho, this November I performed at the New York Winter Festival at LATEA Theater. I was part of an extraordinary play called “Earth To Venus”, which led me to share a great and valuable experience with an amazing group of women. It was a play based on mental health and community, which I think is something we can all relate to, not as a general perspective but as our lived experience in regard to what those words mean to us. On the other hand, I love writing as well, and one of my plays was selected for the One Act Winter Theater Festival at the Chain Theater. The play is called, Unison, and the festival will run from February to March 2024. Additionally, I will be publishing my second book between the end of 2023 and the start of 2024, so look out for that. As you can probably interpret from everything I just said, I love the deeper layers of things, so the book it’s a philosophy blend with poetry, and I hope that just like with any of my work, I can make you question at least of thing in life. Because questioning to me, is what draws us closer to the authenticity of who we are.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I think nothing replaces that innate feeling within you. We all have skills since birth and that looks different for everybody but the key to me is to begin to tune with them, develop and expand them. This takes a tremendous amount of effort since society kind of programs you to go against it. But even though it might be cliche to say it, being yourself is indeed the key. I think I answer these questions differently every time I’m been asked about this and I still stand on the fact that giving advice it’s something that I’m not sure if is my place, but something that I have discovered for myself is that sometimes life is not black and white but live it anyway, cause at some point you ain’t gonna have any. So no matter what it looks like right now for you, do your best, and if you fall it’s cool, when you were a baby you also fell and you are still here, so do it again.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
Love me. I think love is a decision. And even though you might feel “stuck” with your family, you are not. It’s a decision to love and to nurture that love. And I think the most impactful and brave thing my parents have ever done for me (and they’ve done a lot!!!) is to love me. And to me, that sounds silly sometimes, but I think we must never forget the power that abides in love. There’s healing and peace in love. And I think it wasn’t even for them to have me and raise me but to love me… that’s the most impactful thing ever! Nothing replaces love.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jessicagomezlopez.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessgl23/
Image Credits
Salvattore B.
