Oh! The Places You'll Go!

"Where do you see yourself when you graduate? How about in five years? Ten?"

I've never answered these questions the same way twice.

I used to have solid plans laid out. "I'm going into publishing, but I'm going to do some writing on the side. I'm going to work my way to the top, but I'm never going to let the business aspect take over my artistic side. I'm going to live in Boston and buy a small house on the outskirts of the city-- not quite in the suburbs."

"I'm going into non-profit work, but I'm going to do art on the side. I'm going to help everyone that I can, but I'm never going to let myself get burnt out. I'll live in Seattle or Vancouver and probably rent an apartment for most of my life."

"I'm going to be an artist, and be a postal worker/ waitress/ mcdonalds cashier on the side. I'm going to try to earn money, but doing what I love is the most important thing. I'll probably live in a cardboard box."

And now? Well, now I don't have so much as an inkling of a plan of any type. And I'm totally okay with that.

It's not like I'm totally lost. Sure, I have several ideas as to where I might end up and what I might end up doing. But theatre life is unpredictable. I may leave OSU wanting to be a stage manager in New York, expecting to be a bartender in San Francisco, and end up being an indie film director in Timbuktu, or an out of work playwright in Kansas City.

But what I've realized recently is that it really doesn't matter where I am, what I'm doing, or who I'm with. As long as I'm happy, as long as I'm alive and well, and as long as I'm doing what I love.

And hey, if that doesn't work out, then I can always pack up and head to grad school to postpone reality a bit longer. :)

"You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose. 

You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go."

-Dr Seuss