Left Behind
#BAGS PACKED
Sometimes it feels like everyone around you is making waves, while you sit in a stagnant pond and wait. It can be hard to feel positive when people around you are landing roles, auditioning regularly, working on great projects, or creating their own work. All while you watch from the sidelines, staying afloat in a job that doesn't satisfy your creativity. The dream was to make it together with the friends you started together with. In theory that sounds great. However, it is hard enough to make it on your own, let alone having your entire network sustaining a stable career in the arts. The best you can really ask for is a select group of individuals that can support and push one another to greater heights, through the good times and the bad. Unfortunately, what often happens is that we get so caught up with our own needs that our support group around us slowly breaks apart. Of course, you need to look after your creative soul, but when you only focus on you, your support group won’t hang around forever
#MISSED THE BUS
So while you’ve spent all of this time focusing on your own success and forgetting about that group of people who were all on this journey with you - your troupe - what are the repercussions? When you needed help they were there for you. But what about when they needed help? Were you there for them? This isn't a one-way street. If you constantly take from your support and never give back, sooner or later your support will move forward without you. It isn't something you actively wanted to happen, but it is often a by-product of a self-centred focus rather than a team effort to succeed together. Hopefully, with this in mind, you’ll notice when you’re being too selfish before it’s too late. You never what that bus for success to depart at 9 am when you arrive at 9.01am. The people who threw support your way have begun to progress without you. Those that were once close to you are finding success for themselves. The reverse can also happen. You could focus so hard on your success that you are the one that makes it, leaving everyone else behind. The problem here is that it is lonely at the top. Sure, new people come into your life, but what about the ones that were there when things weren't amazing? If you’re lucky enough to achieve success, it’s always beneficial to share it with those that were there from the beginning and understand you at your very core, underneath the bright lights of fame.
#TAKE THE TRAIN
What can you do if you miss the bus? Just because you have let things slide in your life, it doesn't mean that it's too late. There are other ways to get to your destination. The first step is to be able to let go of any selfishness that may have put you in this place to begin with. Get back to supporting others, just as you would enjoy being supported. Just because you chose one path, that doesn’t mean that it’s your only option. Being human means every day is a new lesson. One in which you can choose to grow and learn from any past mistakes. If a certain mindset hasn't served you in the past, think about what could possibly serve you better. Change it up. Reverse the self-talk. Shake up your routine. What you put out is what comes back, so why don't you get back to giving? One of the very first lessons I ever learnt while I was in an improvisation class many moons ago was, “make your partner look good”. This simple lesson doesn't only apply to the art of acting. Why couldn't it be for you and all the people you deal with who are dreaming of successful careers? If you start to support and make those friends of yours look good, you’ll be amazed by how much that you’ll get back when they do the same for you.
In a career that is so heavily reliant on you as an individual, maybe the best strategy forward is to let go of the individual and embrace the group. Life gets easier when you have five people looking out for you instead of just the one.
