Quotes About Self-discovery

I used to enjoy the spotlight. If I had a day off from filming, I didn't know what to do. Now I enjoy my family time so much, there is this sense of, if it all went away, and I was just a mom, I would love my life.

I didn't get hugely famous really quick. It was a slow, gradual process, so I was able to sort of grow into myself and figure out who I was and what I wanted without the glaring spotlight on me telling me who I was.

I spent years shaking the damage that comes with being burned by living near someone else's spotlight.

I've discovered myself a little more, personality-wise just being put through certain situations, whether being in the spotlight, heartbreak, friends coming and going, family.

I left 'Spring Awakening,' and within a month of leaving the show, I came out to my parents and to my friends and broke up with my boyfriend and moved into an apartment of my own and completely changed my life.

At the age of 25, I gave up my study of Japanese language and culture at university in Brisbane and moved to the town of Alice Springs.

I was just such a quiet kid. I found boxing when I was 14 years old. I went down to the gym because my brother, who used to beat me up all the time, introduced me to boxing. I found boxing to be a sport that I felt safe in because I controlled what was in those four squares.

Ballet became this escape for me. I feel like I was on my own a lot. I was searching for stability, so I was going off on my own and imagining what I thought stability was. Ballet became a way for me to cope.

I had left school at 16, gone to stage school - and, until I was 22, I hadn't really played anyone but myself. Then in 1979, I made a film with Mike Leigh called 'Grownups,' which went out on the BBC, and overnight this new career opened up.

I would say, maybe from five years on, I sang on stages constantly. That's what I call my natural habitat: It's a place where I feel most like myself and the most confident, the most excited.

In the initial stages of my career, I was actually hiding behind a mask to hide who I was, but I was getting frustrated. I wasn't getting better bookings; I wasn't competing at bigger events.

Most of my friends between 21 and 31 are at different stages of figuring out what the hell they are going to do with their lives. It's a big part of our generation. What is the next step?

We went from playing small clubs to quite big stages quite quickly, and a lot of the time, I felt like I was trying to catch up with myself. Figuring out how to take up space was an interesting journey.

What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammered I would probably... have gone to Cambridge as my brothers did, perhaps have become a don and every now and then published a dreary book about French literature.

I'm glad I'm not bisexual. I couldn't stand being rejected by men as well as women.

My work is the only ground I've ever had to stand on. To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation, but I'm working on the foundation.

I was taught to be demure, so it was harder for me to learn how to stand up for myself and go, 'What do I want? What are my desires?'

The stand up, everything was accidental. I never grew up and was the class clown and had to get the attention. It was - it really is, I have a career despite myself.

Trying to give an individual a voice has always kind of been my mission in my life. As an actor, I've always seen that was something that needed to be done. You need to find that voice inside of you so that you can stand up and be who you really are.

I took a stand-up comedy class because I'd always wanted to.

You figure out what your standards are, and I think that's important.

When you finally understand who you are, ages 6 through 60 will understand who you are. Because when they see a person that's come through all that I've come through, still standing, it's amazing.

I was bullied a lot, being a kid, so I feel like I'm standing out because I realize who I really am.

If children know there is someone standing over them who knows all the answers, they are less inclined to find the answers for themselves.