The 5 Crystals a Broadway Star Uses to Attract *Exactly* What She Wants Out of Life

'Jagged Little Pill' actor Celia Rose Gooding talks mental health, Gen Z, and dancing to Beyoncé.

Sundays are a day to recharge and reset by hanging with friends, turning off your phone, bathing for hours on end, or doing whatever else works for you. In this column (in conjunction with our Instagram Self-Care Sunday series), we ask editors, experts, influencers, writers, and more what a perfect self-care Sunday means to them, from tending to their mental and physical health to connecting with their community to indulging in personal joys. We want to know why Sundays are important and how people enjoy them, from morning to night.

When Broadway star Celia Rose Gooding was doing eight shows a week for her debut in Jagged Little Pill at the beginning of this year, she placed her physical wellbeing over her mental health. However, when Broadway shut down due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the recently Tony-nominated actress began to realize that wasn’t sustainable in the long run. “I didn’t realize that health, period, is important,” the 20-year-old tells HelloGiggles. “Trying to separate mental health and physical health doesn’t do any good.”

But just because Gooding hasn’t been able to step on stage much this year doesn’t mean she hasn’t been exercising her talents. “Recently with the show, we just taped our performance for the Macy’s Day Parade, which will be airing really soon,” she reveals. “And that’s really exciting. The fact that I get to perform at the Macy’s Day Parade is a bucket list dream.”

Gooding has also been working on other creative pursuits while her Broadway debut is on pause. “I’ve been doing freelance stuff just to keep my name around and flexing my creative muscles when I can, and staying present and joyful,” she says.

For this week’s Self-Care Sunday, we spoke to Gooding to learn more about her journey with mental health, her go-to self-care rituals, and her advice for older people who want to be there for members of Gen Z like herself during this time.

Mental Health

HelloGiggles (HG): How has being a Gen Zer influenced the way you take care of yourself? 

Celia Rose Gooding (CRG): I’ve recently taken a big step in keeping my mental health in a positive place. I started to go to therapy again pretty seriously. As a member of Gen Z, I feel like we are the generation that’s more open to talking about our mental health or lack thereof. I feel like with social media, I have seen my generation be a little more candid on the Internet than in person. There’s a little bit of freedom and security—especially on Twitter.

On social media, I find that I post more candidly about how I’m doing and if I am doing well or not doing well. And sometimes I post little messages of advice that I feel like I need sometimes and I think other people would resonate with. I think that something social media is actually good at is creating a space that feels safe to sort of get some stuff off your chest when you feel like you can’t in real life. 

I feel like I am able to receive all the knowledge about mental health from the Internet and from my therapist, and just realize a lot about myself. I look to my friends who may not be in Gen Z and who have to deal with a lot of stigmas around mental health, because the further you go back generation-wise, the less mental health is appreciated and recognized and seen as something really serious. 

HG: What are some practices or regimens you’d suggest other Gen Zers do if they feel like they’re struggling with their mental health during this time?

CRG: I am just a huge fan of trying everything. I am a huge fan of talking to myself out loud. Whenever I feel like something is off, I’ll just admit it out loud, instead of just pressuring myself to just feel better. I’ll say out loud, “Something is definitely wrong. What happened today that is out of my pattern that may have an effect on my wellbeing?” And I’ll say, “Oh, I was late on a deadline and I’m feeling guilty about that and the guilt is resonating and making me feel negative about myself.”

I started to judge myself a lot less by talking to myself out loud. I think a huge stigma about mental health is that you have to do a certain list of things to get where you want to be with your mental health. In my experience, something that hasn’t been expressed enough about mental health is the idea that every mental health journey is going to be different. Sometimes therapy works for people, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes journaling works for people, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes crystals work for people, sometimes it doesn’t. It all depends on who you are and how you process the world, so trying everything in hopes that you find something that sticks and then sticking with that is super important. 

You need to lift the judgment when you do new things. Because that’s how you get through, and judging inhibits your growth. And I feel like that’s something that needs to be talked about more. 

SCS-Celia-1

Physical Practices

HG: What physical activities have you been doing lately as a form of self-care?

CRG: I don’t consider myself to be a dancer. I consider myself to be a very empowered mover. When I get into a really, really positive space, I just turn on music that I love and I dance and just throw my body around. It’s less choreography and it’s more about jumping up and down and shaking that energy and filling that space with as much positive energy as possible. Because once I’m at that level of positivity and I keep moving around, I’m raising that level of positivity and it gets a lot of energy out, both positive and negative. Even just doing a set of jumping jacks to my favorite Beyoncé song gets that energy out, including the negative energy that I didn’t even recognize. I feel that after getting to move around and being active, I find myself to be more lifted than before. 

HG: Your character Frankie in Jagged Little Pill feels unseen and overlooked. How do you suggest others physically connect with their bodies if they feel similarly?

CRG: I think the thing that Frankie has done is poured her heart into poetry. She loves writing and getting her feelings out on a page… but something that Frankie struggles with sometimes is really just putting out exactly how she feels out on the table in clear words. So if you find it difficult to face feelings of isolation, I would suggest finding an art [form] or a channel of art that helps you express that same feeling—[without] having to find the exact wording for it.

Something that I do sometimes, if I feel that way, is that I try to find a song that really gets how I’m feeling and I just listen to it and remind myself that what I’m feeling is very human and that I’m not the only person to ever have felt this way. So seek out art that helps you feel more seen. Or if you don’t feel like that art is readily available to you, make that art yourself and hopefully, other people will see themselves in your art if you decide to share it. And if you don’t, that’s also a great option. 

Community Care

HG: What do you love about how the Gen Z community cares for one another?

CRG: I think one of the greatest things about social media is that a lot of people found things out about mental health that they didn’t even know the names for. And it makes you feel less alone. And I think Gen Z has great access to this because of social media. People can say, “Is this a little off-putting? Is anyone else going through this kind of thing?” And there are people out there who are like, “Yes, you are not alone.” The way we can all sign into a server and sort of get our feelings out and put feelers out to see if other people feel the same way is really important so that we can feel less isolated during these very isolating times. 

Personal Joys

HG: Are there any products you’ve been loving lately that help with your mental health?

I love crystals. I love collecting them, I love working with them and learning about their metaphysical properties. They are things that I physically hold onto to remind myself to keep my energy up and lifted. And I find that crystals are a signal to the universe of what I’m trying to attract.

I have a lot of energy, so finding ways to channel my energy in positive, grounded ways really helps with my mental health. I have like 40-something crystals. I love amethyst, black tourmaline, and rose quartz (it’s a good self-love stone). I love malachite for attracting abundance and pyrite for confidence. Whatever I need for the day—like picking up an outfit—I pick out my daily crystals and ask myself, “What is the energy I really want to sit with today? Do I want positivity, do I want joy, do I want abundance, do I want protection?” It’s all in the crystals. 

amethyst crystal

Bingcute Brazilian Tumbled Polished Natural Amethyst Stones

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rose quartz heart stone

Unihom Rose Quartz Heart Stone

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malachite mental health

Malachite

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HG: How have you connected with your joy during this time? 

CRG: This past weekend, I was able to get together with my cast family again, and that’s where a lot of my joy is. A lot of my joy is performing, creative collaboration, being with that cast because I have been working with them since I was 17. I’ve been trying to find that joy in other spaces—whether it’s through reaching out to my friends and actually FaceTiming them and texting them, and sharing funny content that I find on the Internet with them.

Also, knowing when to turn my phone off. Of course, it’s important to stay aware and be active, but it’s also important to take a step back and really check in with myself and maybe put on a couple of episodes of Love Island and let my brain go on “do not disturb” mode. It’s all about the duality—that’s where my joy is right now. It’s about being aware, active, and present with my friends and contributing to my friendships and being there, but also knowing when to take a step back and be present for myself and do what makes me feel good for a little while. 

HG: What is your advice for older adults who want to be there for Gen Zers during this difficult time?

CRG: We are just trying to figure out where we place in the world. We are in an unprecedented time, and we don’t really know. And I’m thinking of my sister when I talk about this because she’s in school and she doesn’t really know what her future holds and it’s very anxiety-inducing. And I think that something older generations can do is to just lend an ear.

Sometimes, when I’m spoken to by older generations, they say, “Oh, well when I was your age, I was doing this, this, and this, so maybe you can do this, this, and this.” But 2020 is a very specific year and a lot of things that could’ve worked to get us through don’t quite work right now. Iit would be helpful for older generations to be like, “Your generation is going through a lot right now, and I can’t imagine how stressful that can be. If you ever need a space to vent or to cry or to scream, I can be that person for you.” And then follow through with that promise of authenticity.

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