10/15/2026
When I was younger man, upon entering college my future had been mapped out for me. It was pre-ordained that as I grew up I would choose a career, one that provided a stable income with benefits, get married, and have children. By the time I was a junior in college I still hadn’t chosen a major. My heart and soul belonged to the arts but that was deemed “foolish,” “too risky,” and “unstable.” I dropped out of school and joined an improv group and acted and wrote in an underground tv show called VIDEO MADNESS. It was not a hit. I was raw and had much to learn but I was encouraged by several professionals to stick with it. It was the first time in my life that I was encouraged to live MY LIFE. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Win or lose the choices I made were now my own.
I won’t be presumptuous enough to call myself an artist. But what I do know is that life in the arts is not an easy choice. There are no guarantees that you will make a stable income. It is fraught with uncertainty and rejection. Every artist has felt that sting. But, for many the need to do it overwhelms all else. The only advice I have to offer for those of you that may be straddling the fence is to live your life, not the life someone else has chosen for you. It is not the easy choice but in many ways it is the most rewarding.
“For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: “It might have been.” -John Greenleaf Whittier
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