Meet Jinjara Mitchell
Jinjara Mitchell is a Canadian-American actress and writer based in Vancouver, BC, known for her roles in Arrow, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Guava Juice Show, My Little Pony, Family Law, and more.
Transitioning to roles behind-the-scenes, Jinjara has recently co-directed a short film titled, The Ornament, and is in the process of developing a TV show in collaboration with her partner and fellow actor, Jordan Connor.
We sat down with Jinjara to chat about the role of self-care in her busy schedule, and how these practices keep her mindset in check.
Q: You mentioned that you believe it’s important to keep up with your self-care – what does this mean to you?
A: For me self care means self love. It means taking time in your day to treat yourself with kindness and to nurture yourself the way you would someone you love. For me, the ways in which I do this include making sure I find time to meditate. Even if it’s only 5 minutes, or even if that means spending a couple minutes throughout my day catching up with my breath and separating myself from all the “thoughts” in my head. Especially those pesky thoughts that can make me feel like I haven’t done “enough”. I am also a big believer in affirmations and I make sure to set an affirmation for my day. Often that is rooted in something I can say to myself to keep me in a mindset that is in alignment with self love, like “I am a capable human being” or “I am enough as I am”. Of course beyond the mental ways I allow myself to partake in self care I am a big believer that laughter is the best medicine and I love moving my body, and making myself a nice warm cup of tea to spruce up a dull moment.
Q: How important is this mindset for what you do?
A: Mindset is everything to me. I believe we become what we think about all day. If the thoughts in my head are mostly things like, “there’s not enough hours in the day” or “It’s easier for others, but for me things never work out” etc, then I think unconsciously I will act in ways that make those thoughts the reality for me. However, if my mindset is focused on positive aspects of my life, or even just celebrating little wins (I didn’t snooze the alarm today!) or whatever it is, we can start to build a healthier, happier mindset, and ultimately a more balanced, happy life.
Q: What’s your best tip for when you struggle to maintain this way of thinking? What are your go-to rituals?
A: When I find myself struggling with my mindset I remember that thoughts are just that, thoughts. They aren’t a reality, and they can be changed. I notice how many times the negative thoughts I have had, turned out to be untrue and a waste of my time and mental space. If I find myself feeling down, I simply reverse the thoughts I am having. For example, if I am thinking to myself, “today was off to a rocky start and the rest of the day will probably be terrible as well” I will try and catch myself and change that thought to “Okay, we had a rocky start, but I am going to do my best to not let that define me, or my day and I believe this day still has beauty left to be uncovered!” Even if I don’t fully believe what I am saying, I still make sure to formulate a new, positive thought that is more in alignment with how I WANT to feel even if it’s not how I CURRENTLY feel and I use that to carry me through to the next part of my day.
Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of that you were able to achieve because of your ability to maintain self-care?
A: When I first decided I wanted to be an actress I was told by certain coaches and teachers that my voice was too high. It brought me down quite a lot, and made me feel like I had to change myself in order to succeed or be accepted by others. I decided that feeling this way was nonsense and I chose to find the reasons I love my voice, and how it is something that makes me unique. As a result, I am proud to say my voice has helped me to create a wonderful career! I have had the honor of voicing Jules on the Guava Juice Show, I have worked on My Little Pony, and I even have a very exciting leading role coming up for a project based on a New York Times bestselling children’s book. If I hadn’t taken the time for self care and self love then I might have continued to allow myself to believe that my voice needed to change, and I wouldn’t find the fulfillment from my voice that I have now found.
Q: Tell us what’s coming up for you this year and what we should be on the lookout for.
A: As I mentioned above, in the new year I will be voicing a lead character for an upcoming TV program. I am extremely excited and will keep you posted with the name of the show when I am able to speak about it! I have also written a short film titled The Ornament which I will be co-directing with Dani Barker. We’re set to start filming early February. I have also been working on developing and creating a TV show for the last two years with my partner Jordan Connor and we are currently in negotiations with studios who are wanting to pick up the show and help further develop the project!
Check out Jinjara’s day in the life video of her self-care mindset.
Follow Jinjara @jinjara