A few days ago, in a conversation with a nurse tech, she mentioned that she’d “always wanted to act, to be on the stage.” She hadn’t pursued it, though, because she needed a serious profession, a stable job. I asked her how old she was—which wasn’t rude because she was clearly very young—and she said, “Twenty-three.”
Twenty-three! “But you live in the metro Atlanta area!” I said. “There are countless opportunities to get involved in the theater. You can be an actor, if you really want it.”
On Sunday, I watched the news about Orlando and thought of all those twenty-three-year olds who had plans and dreams and desires and in an instant, all that was gone. But then on Sunday evening, I watched the Tony awards. In the midst of all the sadness and tragedy, there was still celebration, joy, and hope. The stage was crowded with young and old alike, fulfilling their dreams.
And I sat in my chair, watching and thinking about a musical I’d written years ago. I didn’t finish it for many reasons. But perhaps the main reason was the mindset similar to that young nurse; that I didn’t have time for a frivolous dream like that.
The more I thought of how precious every day is, every hour, every minute, the more I thought about that musical. I love musicals and this one happens to be about a favorite theme of mine, baseball. (Remember how I mentioned that baseball is my heart? Yep, it showed up even in my musical!) And before the winner of best musical was announced, I’d jotted down three steps to fulfillment:
1. Define the dream/goal/desire. The more specific, the better. Write it down. Put it on a mirror or a bulletin board or post-it notes. Just make sure that the dream is out there, that it can’t be ignored.
2. Do the homework. What skills and/or education are necessary to accomplish the dream? Classes? Workshops? Conferences? Professional organizations? (When it comes to support in the writing field, there are more resources available than you can shake a stick at!)
3. Start. Sure, it sounds trite, but it’s often true. The only thing stopping me is starting.
I know this sounds like more of a January rather than June post. But like I said, sometimes, the universe seems to be trying to tell me something. And I wondered if maybe the universe might be trying to tell you something, too.
Now it just comes down to listening.
~Cathy C. Hall
Image courtesy of Pixabay
1 comments:
Good advice, Cathy. I need to work on all three points. And, why wait until January if a good idea pops into your head.
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