Multi-media personality Connie Ferguson recently sat down with podcaster, Mpoomy Ledwaba to discuss how she was navigating life.
As her life continues to change, the TV and film mogul and award-winning actress has learnt to adapt to her circumstances.
"When I woke up I was feeling very peaceful, very joyful ... I create my own little safe and happy spaces. I found ways to be joyful. I would call this season (in my life) ‘just being’.
She said that in the past she used to pressure herself into snapping out of her emotions but “now I feel it, I just go with it, it will change just like the weather changes, the sun rises, there’s always light.”
Ferguson, who has been vocal about suffering from seasonal depression, shared that had now found a system that helped her to manage it.
“There are waves, but they are far and few in between. I have found a system that works and that is the gym.
“I make it a priority, I have to include it in my schedule, everything works around my gym time. That has really helped me stay off medication. I swear by it,” said the former “Generations” actress.
Speaking about navigating life, she said, “I’ve always been a moment-focused person, with a dream for the future, but never with a set idea of what’s it’s going to look like.
“From my experience, just setting those goals, although I believe in visualisation, I think sometimes when certain things don’t happen, that you expected to happen at a certain time, a lot people can’t handle that pressure, so I try not to put myself under that kind of pressure. I find that it works for me because then I surprise myself a lot.
“I try not to look too far into the future, and that’s how I treated grieving as well, because it can be overwhelming.”
Ferguson also touched on her early days in the industry when the instability of work led her to become thrifty.
“It’s always been a hand to mouth kind of industry, it’s better now because we have long forms, soapies and telenovelas, so performers get to have longer contracts, whereas when we started you would literally be employed for like 6 to 8 weeks and you don’t know what’s happening next, you have to find the next gig.
“From a very early age I learnt to save ... When I started off I lived way below my means so that I could save. I also learnt to focus not only on acting and presenting, I used to multi-task.
“At one point I had four jobs all at the same time. I suppose the business me comes from that. I always treated myself like a small business and never just like an actress.”
Ferguson, who has a career spanning over three decades, give sound advice to younger people on how to deal with comparison and competition: “It’s hard when you are younger, I think it’s easier when you get older and you become more comfortable in your own skin.
“When you growing up you can’t help but compare ... you’re still wet behind the eyes, vulnerable, you haven’t yet found your voice and who you are, so it’s hard.
“I can imagine now with social media how difficult it is for younger people, but the most important thing for me is just to recognise how beautiful you are and that beauty is just not the exterior, I believe in beauty from the inside out.
“Sometimes we feel life is a sprint ... It’s a process, a journey, you will still get to where you going, take as much time as you need.”
Watch the full interview below.