We had the good fortune of connecting with Winston A. Abalos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Winston A., we’d love to hear about a book that’s had an impact on you.

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle is my bible. I love the book because in understanding its teachings I have become more peaceful, I’m better at navigating the ups and downs of life and it’s my north star when all hell breaks loose in my heart and mind or in the outside world. It’s opened me up to a spiritual world I didn’t believe in before. I’m intensely logical! Spirituality softens my logic and allows me to experience space, love, miracles and more joy.

I spent most of my young adult life in therapy. After more than a decade of learning and talking about my past it didn’t free me from it. It was an endless cycle of “my past”. I thought I had hit rock bottom at 25 years old but it turned out there are more bottoms! My last last last resort was to open myself up to something other than therapy.

The Oprah Winfrey Show did an on-line class on this book with Eckhart Tolle. This is when I read the book. Every word was so simple, accurate and impactful. It was everything I needed to know. And just like when you wake up from a nightmare, you are instantly free from the story of the nightmare. You may wake up with the emotional momentum of the nightmare but you automatically know it’s not true. And this book helps me see what happened in the past as that, the past, a scary story I keep believing is true today. It’s no longer true. I do still have emotional momentum from the past, but I now know it is just that, emotional momentum and not the truth of my present reality. I am awakened and therefore more free.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

I’ve lived 9 lives. I started off as a software engineer, then pursued a dance career, worked as bartender, drove for Lyft and I freelanced in film/tv production. In freelance, I have produced web series, music videos, short films and a feature film. During this time I was also working here and there in reality TV. As time passed by, certain things started to become more important as I got older. Work stability and having my time be invested in something. Reality TV has been the answer so far. I get more jobs in reality TV than anything else. So now I’m working full time on reality TV. I’m so busy I barely have time to do anything fun, like writing on article about my career! What I’ve learned is this; do your best but don’t try to be perfect at the cost of your joy, make connections but be authentic, be audacious with what you want to do but don’t expect it, tell everyone you meet what you wanna do on set but don’t expect them to hire you for it, it’s ok to express your limits just be respectful and offer solutions, be kind and respectful, not only can it change your life and get you the one job that gets you all jobs, but we all want to work with kind and respectful people. Doing your best is an investment in yourself, if your boss recognizes, great, if not, it’s ok. You will grow knowing you can trust yourself to do a good job and that is more useful than 100 people telling you how good you are. Take feedback, but don’t make it mean anything about your worth, we are all blindsided by our blind spots, production is relentless so be ready to be awakened!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would first ask them, ” what is it you have always wanted to do in LA?”. We have the best comedy venues; The Comedy Store, Laugh Factory, United Citizens Brigade. We can also go to Rodeo Dr. if you want to see celebrities. Let’s go do a studio tour on the Warner Brothers lot or Universal! I also wanna take you to the best spot to get a photo by the Hollywood sign. Definitely try some real Mexican tacos, taco trucks! My favorite burrito is from El Taurino in Panorama City! The Abbey is the best bar in LA, with the Edison a good second place. Let’s see what is playing at the Hollywood Bowl, one of the best places in the world to experience music. Come during the summer so we can go see movies at the cemetery, Cinespia at Hollywood Forever. And if you want to go to my favorite restaurant for dinner, let’s go to Cafe Figaro in Los Feliz Village. One of my favorite things to do is an escape room!! I. LIVE. FOR. ESCAPE. ROOMS. And before you leave, no matter what, let’s make a pit stop in Santa Monica beach, Venice beach boardwalk or the Griffith Observatory. But at the end of the day, the reason we love to live in LA is because of the lifestyle. Enjoy our beautiful weather!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people to thank for so many different reasons. But if there is one person who I feel has helped me the most for the most reasons it is my best friend Paul Morente. I’ve known Paul since I was 15 years old. He embodies everything I have read about in psychology and spiritual books. He is someone I love, respect, laugh at, laugh with, call, cry and count on. He knows all my darkest secrets and biggest desires. I can feel his respect and appreciation for me and for someone you respect and value to reciprocate the same sentiment, it is truly impactful. He is a spectacular human being and being his friend is one the greatest gifts life has given to me.

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Image Credits
Winston Abalos, Chris Wax, Ryan Dillon

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