Life can be really, really rough. Following a dream others tell you is senseless or idealistic looses its alluring taste once you have experienced the worlds trials. Shortly after you come to know poverty, loneliness and judgment, you look for what one calls a "Real Dream". Maybe this is something you want to do because you think you will make a lot of money, or not have to go to a lot of school, or because their family did that. But, I ask, is that worth compromising passion??? Or, if you don't yet know what you want, give up the opportunity to find that passion?
I would give just about anything for my dream. I am no stranger to the term "Starving artist". Being a costume designer or novelist is not exactly realistic. It is the kind of dream that is achievable only with the highest determination, and even then is sometimes not reachable. I know this. Luckily, I have parents that support me, and I avoid the people who urge me to be what they define as practical.
I know if I want to succeed, I will have to commit, and I will have to make sacrifices. That means that I don't always have time to hang out with friends even when I desperately want to, and that I hardly sleep and that I put myself under an excruciating amount of stress. But, if I can spend my life doing what I love, every bump along the way will be worth it. I honestly would rather write books and eat cheap food and shop thrift stores than I would sit at a boring job that was slowly ate my soul, the blackened tongue of an office licking away at my life. That would absolutely destroy me. I, of course, have respect for all career paths-if you are in it for the right reason. I struggle with people who choose a job for reasons of it being easy. Life isn't easy. Dreams, passions, should always come first.
I know that things could be easier for me though. I won't lie, it is tempting. Who can say they are never seduced by the idea of money and security. But, I know that no matter if I become a success like Colleen Atwood (Costumes in Alice in Wonderland, Great Gatsby, Chicago, etc and with 9 Emmys) or J.K. Rowling (Author of Harry Potter, who got her start in a book about NAPKINS of all things and created a whole culture that made billions of people of all ages froth over adventure and magic and enticing characters) or I find myself living in a small apartment in Portland, writing a column through the Columbian and picking up jobs on local plays when I can, I will be happy, because I will never have given up.
I would give just about anything for my dream. I am no stranger to the term "Starving artist". Being a costume designer or novelist is not exactly realistic. It is the kind of dream that is achievable only with the highest determination, and even then is sometimes not reachable. I know this. Luckily, I have parents that support me, and I avoid the people who urge me to be what they define as practical.
I know if I want to succeed, I will have to commit, and I will have to make sacrifices. That means that I don't always have time to hang out with friends even when I desperately want to, and that I hardly sleep and that I put myself under an excruciating amount of stress. But, if I can spend my life doing what I love, every bump along the way will be worth it. I honestly would rather write books and eat cheap food and shop thrift stores than I would sit at a boring job that was slowly ate my soul, the blackened tongue of an office licking away at my life. That would absolutely destroy me. I, of course, have respect for all career paths-if you are in it for the right reason. I struggle with people who choose a job for reasons of it being easy. Life isn't easy. Dreams, passions, should always come first.
I know that things could be easier for me though. I won't lie, it is tempting. Who can say they are never seduced by the idea of money and security. But, I know that no matter if I become a success like Colleen Atwood (Costumes in Alice in Wonderland, Great Gatsby, Chicago, etc and with 9 Emmys) or J.K. Rowling (Author of Harry Potter, who got her start in a book about NAPKINS of all things and created a whole culture that made billions of people of all ages froth over adventure and magic and enticing characters) or I find myself living in a small apartment in Portland, writing a column through the Columbian and picking up jobs on local plays when I can, I will be happy, because I will never have given up.