Actor Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk flatlined after suffering a heart attack.
After he recuperated, Odenkirk, star of AMC’s Better Call Saul, told Terry Gross on Fresh Air that he had a sense of energy and was ready to get back to work. “And I came out of it with, like, strangely fresh energy towards my whole life like I was born again. … Like, hey, everybody, look where we are. Let's go back to work and make stuff. And this is my family, and this is great. So I really kind of had an upbeat let's-go-get-them energy.”
What Odenkirk experienced is not unique. According to research and anecdotal evidence, patients feel a flood of emotions after a cardiac event. The heart, after all, is the engine that keeps blood, our life force, going. And so, after recovery, patients can feel better physically and emotionally, something clinicians refer to as post-traumatic growth, positive behavior change due to stress.
Odenkirk says that the feeling of energy has subsided, but he can now channel it when he needs to. “And that energy carried through. And it made it easier to be in the moment, which is your job as an actor… You know, it's really advantageous to playing moments and to acting.”
Odenkirk, whose background is in comedy, then jokes, “So, to all you actors out there, have a brief moment of death.” However, he adds in all seriousness, “I also experienced it once, so I can think back on it and reconnect with it. And I want to do that literally every day of my life. I really want to stay in touch with what happened there because it really was a great reconnection to being alive. And so I'd love to ruminate on it every day and try to reconnect.”
Applying the lessons
It is essential for all actors, especially those working in film and television, when they must channel their skills into momentary bits of dialogue or action. That requires immense amounts of concentration, discipline, and of course, energy.
What Odenkirk has taken from his cardiac event has relevance for the rest of us; even (fingers-crossed), our tickers are working just fine. We need to have the same kind of discipline. The challenge is how to channel it. Ask yourself:
What do I like about what I do now? First, describe your feelings about what you do and why you want it. Then, consider how it fulfills your needs and aspirations.
What do I not like and why? Consider what is getting in the way of your engagement in your work. Is it a temporary obstacle or something more profound? Are you in a job that's okay for the moment but not for the long-term?
How can I change the situation? This question may be the toughest. What changes do you need to make? You may end up changing jobs or careers. Such a move is life-changing, but it could be what will enable you to fill fulfilled later.
There is something else cardiac patients experience, especially those who have had a heart attack. A renewed sense of life. They feel they have been given a second chance and want to put their remaining years to the best use possible.
Life’s purpose
Our challenge is to examine ourselves and ask what we want from life. Are we living life to our fullest potential? The isolation produced by the pandemic certainly challenged many of us to re-think our life's purpose. Such a re-examination can be challenging; it may mean letting go of our assumptions of who we think we truly are.
Erin Cech, author of The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality,and professor of sociology at the University of Michigan, told me in an interview that everyone need not find purpose at work. Purpose can emerge from generating income to provide for the family and afford a better lifestyle. Purpose can be flexible.
“Personal health,” said famed educator Maria Montessori, “is related to self-control and the worship of life in all its natural beauty - self-control bringing with it happiness, renewed youth, and long life.” Our challenge is to exert our sense of self, so we open ourselves to new experiences that provide greater meaning and joy.
