Apathy versus Non Attachment

This business is hard, if we didn’t have a passion for the work, we wouldn’t be doing it. How is it that some production professionals can stay cool-headed and unflappable in the middle of a chaotic storm? I think it’s one of two things: either these pros have lost all their passion and have lapsed into a profound state of apathy, or they have figured out a way to emotionally detach from the situation.

This type of detachment is what the Buddhists refer to as non-attachment. They define it as “Detachment, also expressed as non-attachment, is a state in which a person overcomes his or her attachment to desire for things, people, or concepts of the world and thus attains a heightened perspective."

Apathy, on the other hand, is simply not caring. Or as one of my production friends says, “I care, but not that much.” I didn’t really understand the difference until recently.

It was one of those days, you know the kind, when you eat three bites of your lunch standing backstage among road cases, and then leave it because it’s time to go. One of those shows where water is hard to find, not that it matters because you don’t have time to visit the loo anyway, when the client is asking for a different walk-on song than what you had edited and loaded into the Instant Replay when you’re 2 minutes to show….

It was that kind of show day, and the crew was tired - and in OT.

We had made it through the show with zero mistakes. (Yay us!) And now it was time for rehearsals. This should be easy, two presenters, with PowerPoint and prompter. The rehearsal was slated for 30 minutes. They were to walk the stage, click through their slides, and then we would all be done for the day.

Unfortunately, one of these presenters started displaying some inconsiderate behavior. So the producer asked him if he could pick up the pace, as there were a lot of people waiting on him. “They can wait,” he said as he scrolled through Facebook. It infuriated the producer, rightfully so. This particular show I was simply the stage manager, so I could watch all of this unfold. And while I watched, something came to me:

Non-attachment. I can understand that the presenter is acting inappropriately, but I realized then and there that I have a choice as to whether I allow it to affect my stress level. It’s not that I don’t care that this person is behaving badly, but I realized that I didn’t have to emotionally invest in this observance.

Maybe that’s the difference between apathy and non-attachment. Apathy says," I don’t care." Non-attachment says, "I choose to have no opinion about that.”

See, our industry is so very stressful. If we want to ensure that we retain the passion and joy that we discovered at the start of our careers, we have to develop coping skills. We have to protect the heart and mind, allowing them the space to think creatively and clearly. Keep the focus on the show as a whole as opposed to the gnats of inconvenience and discontent. I think THIS is the special sauce that will enable us to truly make a difference in our industry. What about you? What do you think?