Meet Mirra Eden

We recently connected with Mirra Eden and have shared our conversation below.

Mirra, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

How does anyone really overcome Imposter syndrome?

I’m no doctor, but I would say the most effective way to manage the symptoms is with ignorance. I’m not typically an advocate for ignoring your problems or the whole ignorance is bliss mindset, but in this case, the power of ignorance is your friend.

If you listen to every single sour thought you’ve ever had, you’ll never get anywhere. You’ll end up choking yourself and killing your art before you even create it. By listening to the little voice in your head that’s constantly questioning your talents and feeding your anxieties, you’ll be doing nothing except nurturing your insecurities, inadvertently realizing them.

Ignorance is bliss, but it’s not a permanent solution. The main issue that comes with ignoring Imposter Syndrome, is that it doesn’t really help you to cure it. Sure you can ignore it, but the feelings of self doubt will creep back eventually for some reason or another. I think maybe the only real way to be able to conquer Imposter Syndrome is by working hard and continuously practicing and refining your skills. If you can really trust yourself and your abilities in something, you’ll be less likely to listen to doubts when they come around.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Weirdly enough, when people ask me what I do sometimes I clam up. It’s a simple question, but oftentimes I find I’m not sure what to say. “Should I tell them I’m an Actor, or a Musician? Do I show them my Modeling portfolio, or my Demo Reel? Maybe I should just list off everything I do. Would that be too much?”

Sometimes, I worry that people might not take me seriously since I’m diversified across multiple fields. I wonder if it’s better to tell people I just do one thing? However, I feel if I did that, I would be doing myself a disservice by not showcasing all aspects of what I do equally. I spend all of my time devoted across each of my trades, and they all deserve to be treated with the same amounts of respect.

I find it’s much more natural to work across multiple mediums. Being a multifaceted artist has helped me not only deepen my knowledge and understanding of myself, but also of each of my professions. It’s kinda like a spiderweb, each strand couldn’t exist without the support of another.

As for the “more about me”, “meet the artist” portion, I’d describe myself as a person who feels a lot. To clarify, I’m continuously experiencing a constant stream of overwhelming amounts of emotions. Every single thing I’m exposed to affects me very deeply. Sometimes to a point where it can be debilitating. My emotions consume me and entirely dictate my day to day life, however, feeling so much all the time isn’t always a negative thing. The depth and intensity of my emotions are what fuel all of my musical, artistic, and creative expression.

Since I do experience life with the volume turned up so high, I don’t think I’d opt to feel less if I had the choice. While at times it can be difficult to manage, feeling so much does come with its benefits. Being able to feel so moved by even the smallest things, I consider to be a blessing. It allows me to find joy in the tiniest or strangest places, and see beauty hidden within things which otherwise would have passed me by. These unique emotions and experiences are what I draw upon for my creativity, and they’ve helped mold me into the artist I am today.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The abilities to listen, observe, and empathize.

If you can’t listen, you can’t learn. If you can’t observe, you can’t appreciate, and if you can’t empathize with someone and put yourself into their shoes, you’ll live your entire life restricted to only understanding a singular perspective. To live life that way is incredibly limiting, but to be an artist trying to live within that mindset is practically impossible. If you can never slow down, listen, and truly understand the world around you, you’ll end up being the type of person who only sees things from their own perspective; and be for real, nobody likes that guy.

The best thing you can do for yourself and for your craft is to drone out the noise and just keep at it. There’s a really great quote by Earl Nightingale that goes, “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
If you think about it, he’s got a point. For example, say you want to learn the piano, but you’re disgruntled that you’re a beginner and it’s going to take a long time to learn. You can choose today whether or not to begin, and in 5 years time you can either have 5 years of piano practice under your belt, or you can still be mad you don’t know how to play. The 5 years will pass regardless, so choose what you wanna do.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

Well, I would start snowboarding, take more risks, and I would be more unapologetically cringe than I currently allow myself to be. It’s a lot easier said than done, but if I was living life operating with the knowledge that I only had a little time left, I would try to not let myself get in my own way as much as I do now. When it comes to my work I can get shy and be somewhat of a perfectionist. Which essentially just translates to me holding both myself and my work back. If I knew my personal “deadline” was fast approaching, I think I’d allow myself to be much more free.

It might not actually be too bad of an idea to try and live life forgoing the assumption that you’ll get another day. In reality, we never know when it’s all going to be over. Time spent with our loved ones, friends, family, your childhood home, or even something small but impactful like your favorite snack at the store. We never know when these things will silently slip out of our hands and out of our lives.

Try to take in every moment, and appreciate everything before it disappears. When time inevitably passes and you turn around and notice that everything’s changed, you’ll be thankful you gave what you cared about the love and attention that you did.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mirraeden.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mirraeden/
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mirraeden
• Other: Spotify:
  

Image Credits

Alejandro Martinez, Fransis Chicote, Eli Flynn, David Gary Lloyd