Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Changes....

"Time to face the strange ch-ch-changes..." --- David Bowie

At this stage of the game in my life I am yet again beset by the need to change.

I have bursitis in my left foot.

That might not seem like such a crisis. But for me it means I need to figure out yet again how to sustain myself within the world of show business and theater. You see, I spent the last 12 years of my life making the bulk of my living from working as an IATSE Local 1 stagehand. While I work for other possibilities (I direct plays and teach acting ---- and made half my living doing that work last year) my bread and butter has been stagehanding. Now with my foot on the fritz, I am forced to rethink how to live (I don't believe in survival anymore; we're put here to live and enjoy life, not suffer it.)

Needing to shift is not new to me; I am an actor who went to Wall Street who went back to theater as a stage manager who became an arts administrator who became a stagehand who went back to school to get an MFA in Directing who then taught high school in Baltimore City who then came back to NYC and began to direct plays and teach acting. But I never get used to it.

So here I am at a crossroads. It's exciting. It's scary. It's life.

I wonder about you...How have you changed? What gets you through uncertain times?

4 comments:

Joseph Millett said...

This is a great idea, Alex! Good luck with the blog!

I have changed in a lot of ways, mostly attitudinal. I have given up on some cherished goals and created new ones to replace them. I have set my sights on the post-work world and making it as comfortable and challenging as possible.

If you see your dreams as mutable (capable of change and adaptation) you will never lose your passion for achievement!

Ceilon Aspensen said...

"The only constant is change."--Heraclitus

You will find your equilibrium...as long as you keep moving. It's like riding a bicycle--you only keep your balance if you keep moving.

I'm at a similar juncture, and I'm even learning to not hate change so much (don't know that I'll ever learn to love it). I support you in your change. :-)

Alexander D Carney said...

I grumble but I am much easier this time around. It seems the older I get, the more adaptable I become. Strange.

Peggy said...

The ups and downs I've gone through have made me stronger, more confident, more humble, and more forgiving. I still have a long way to go, but I believe I have grown largely because of my faith in God.