My Mid-Twenties Have Begun--What Now?

This past Sunday was my birthday. I am a fresh-faced 25 year old who is ready to take on the world! It's way better than the withered and weary 24 year old that cropped up around this time last year. It's been a heck of a year and I think it calls for some serious reflection.

Taken at The Basement theatre in Atlanta. Best house lights in history.

My 24th year on this planet set me on a slow, deliberate, upward trajectory. I had struggled the previous two or three years with basically everything. Finances, romances, school, work, home. Name it and I had some legit problems that I just could not face. I hit 23 and I was just working to keep my head above the water.

This past year I've really had to reconsider what I want out of my life and career. I used to be sure that all I wanted was to be a professional actor. Improv and failing to get cast in professional acting gigs for a couple years made me wonder if acting was really what I wanted. My identity for the past six years or so had been all about being an actor. Even improvising was just a means to become a better actor and to get my name out there. All the same, I found myself wondering if improv alone could serve me just as well as acting could.

The truth is, I just want to perform and create. I'd like to get paid for it, but at a bare-bones level performing is just as important to me as eating and sleeping is to everyone else. I need to do it, and if no one will pay me to do it then I'll do it myself. I can do it by improvising, I can write and perform sketches for youtube, I can audition for shows. As long as I can get my creative fix, I don't mind what methods are delivering it to me. I had to add the word "creative" in there to make me feel like less of a drug addict.

I've realized that opportunities aren't falling into my lap. That people aren't seeing me audition and perform and running to me with contracts and money and scripts. That there is no such thing as an easy opportunity. I have to work and make those opportunities and create those relationships every single day. To be successful in a way that's fulfilling to me, I am going to have to be prepared to plug away forever. 

TL;DR

New Life's Aspiration: Literally become a bear.

1. If no one's asking me to do it, then I'll do it myself! Not gonna wait, just gonna get started. I'll figure out all the tough stuff on the way.
2. I've distilled what I want down to its essence. For me that's performing and creating. Any path that lets me do those things is a path worth examination.
3. Success is a fast result of a slow process. I've got to be prepared to buckle down for the long haul if I ever want to be truly good at the things I love.

So there are my thoughts on where I am and how I can move forward. Hope it's useful to anybody who's coming in from the same station that I departed from!

If you like this post, here's a couple that are similar from early October, ch-ch-check'em out!
How I Stumbled Into Improv and Just Do It!