This is the time of year we’re the most contemplative about where we are in our own lives - and it’s for that reason I’m so excited to introduce you to today’s guest. Lynn Chen is an actress, activist, and food blogger who’s been seen in countless TV shows and films, serves as an ambassador for the National Eating Disorders Association, and has not one but TWO blogs. The Actor’s Diet, which Lynn started in 2009 as a sort of journal to help her make peace with her food after years of eating disorders, it’s now one of the most influential food blogs on the web, with some of the most longevity at that. AND, she’s got a podcast, the Actor’s Diet Podcast! Her other blog is called Thick Dumpling Skin, a phenomenal body-image blog that’s centered around the Asian American community.
We ended up talking for close to two hours – Lynn shared so much of herself with me, and with us, that I really, really wanted to be mindful to do each word and thought and story and lesson justice. She’s in a majorly transitional time in her career right now, and that can be really scary – I went through the same thing multiple times – where you’ve pretty much built your identity being one thing, and then you decide to change directions from that. I don’t care what kind of career your in or what your life looks like, it’s something we all experience, but we usually hear people talking about it AFTER it’s happened. I’m honored Lynn opened up about this to me.
We dive deep in this episode, but the one theme that kept popping up was learning how to accept what is, and then moving forward from there. We talk about the way blogging’s shifted over the last six years, Lynn’s choice to move away from acting and why success isn’t always what it seems, the lessons she learned while she was trying to get pregnant, and the unexpected strategy she’s used to cope with everything from the sudden death of her father a few years back to her long history with eating disorders. We also talk about rejection, comparison, and how to make your mark by being exactly who you are.
It gets deep and it gets emotional and we both cry a little, but I promise, just like anything else with WANT, this is really about hope, taking what’s handed to you, and asking yourself, where can I go from here.