The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s Rain Spencer Meditates Every Single Day

Welcome to Refinery29's Why I Do It, a series where we ask inspirational, successful people 29 questions about what fuels them on and off the clock. Because, let's face it: life is about so much more than chasing inbox zero.

You might recognize 24-year-old Rain Spencer from her role as Taylor in the hit series The Summer I Turned Pretty on Prime Video. The talented actress has also graced our screens as the lead in Good Girl Jane, a film that won her Best Performance in a U.S. Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival. Here's why she does it.

What’s the very first thing you do when you wake up? I make coffee, feed my dog, and take her on a walk. I have an Australian Shepherd poodle mix.

What’s the last thing you do before you go to bed? Skincare, brush my teeth, and I usually watch a little bit of a TV show.

Power nap or power workout? Surprisingly, most likely a power workout, but it does not happen often.

Early bird or night owl? I would love to be the girl that says early bird, but lately I've been going to bed at like one or two.

How many unread emails do you have in your inbox right now? I have 22,054.

Iced coffee or hot coffee? Usually hot.

What’s your favourite thing that you keep on your desk or work space? A journal.

When was the last time you felt like a success? The other day, my fourth grade teacher emailed me to say congratulations on everything and asked me how I was doing and it made my week. It was so sweet.

What do you do on those days when you don’t feel that confident? I usually go on a walk and call a friend to tell them how I'm feeling and vent. Sometimes I will get my journal and write down a bunch of words of affirmation, like I'll write down, I have everything I need and more. I lack nothing. Just certain affirmations like that to changed my mindset.

What’s one thing you do every day, without fail? I have meditated every single morning since 2017. Sometimes it's three minutes and sometimes it can be 25-30 minutes. As long as I do it every day I feel good.

What’s something you wish you did every day? I wish I had a healthy, balanced diet. Most of the time I wait until I'm pissed and then realize I'm just hungry.

What’s your favourite piece of advice that you’ve gotten? I think the best advice I ever received is that every single person is a ten out of ten. Like, there are no nines, although sometimes everyone can feel that way, it's not the truth. And that also means that there's no 11s, so no one is better or worse than you. It's all a made up story. You belong here, no one else will ever be able to fill your shoes.

What’s your least favourite piece of advice that you’ve gotten? To stay the same.

Who inspires you the most? My mom. We grew up so broke, but she always supported me and found a way to make it work while keeping a super positive mindset. And also she brought a ton of humour into the house so even though we would struggle to pay rent, it didn't bring us down. We didn't take life so seriously and we knew that we would always be okay.

Who, if anyone, do you try to emulate? I've never fully tried to emulate anyone else. I think there have been times when I learn from my friends how to be more extroverted in social situations. Like my friend Polly is really good about commanding a room and feeling confident in her own skin and I've looked up to her for years when we went go parties and stuff like, how do you do that?

What’s something people ask you for advice about often? I get a lot of people coming to me and asking me about how to feel good enough, how to grow their self-esteem, their self-worth. I have some people come to me and ask me about my codependency and how to get out of that, how to give yourself everything that you need and not expect someone else to do that for you.

What’s a piece of advice you felt proud to give? I feel proud if I make someone feel seen or heard in any way at all.

What is your most-used app on your phone? Messages or Instagram.

Where do you put your phone while you’re sleeping? I put it on a chair next to my bed.

What do you do when you feel yourself burning out? Complain. No, I'm kidding. Most of the time I will burn out if I don't feel like I'm truly connecting with someone, like if I'm at a party or something and if it's all small talk, I burn out super quickly. But if we're talking about like aliens or something that can get my imagination running or if someone's funny, I can be there all night.

What’s something you consider a secret weapon? My imagination.

Where are you, compared to where you thought you’d be at 12 years old? I'm surprisingly pretty close to where I thought I'd be. I think my 12-year-old self would be super proud of me. And I love my 12-year-old self.

If you could change one thing about your professional life, what would it be? I would have already gotten started on writing a feature film.

What’s been your biggest pieces of support, helping you get where you are? Friends, family, therapist, and my team.

What do you do to start your workday? Self-care to the best of my ability in the morning, and making sure my mind is clear and positive about the day ahead.

What do you do to end your workday? Sweatpants, good food, cuddling with my dog, and a TV show.

What's the last song you listened to? Probably something by Nina Simone.

What’s the last photo in your favourites folder on your phone? A picture of the Malibu Pier.

If you could go back and do one thing differently in your career path, what would it be? I'm someone who always thinks that everything is exactly as it should be. But I think I would have given myself more time to prepare better wrap gifts for the crew.