But What If?

Sunday musings...

sorry I have been MIA - still dealing with the healing thing and all the joys that brings.

This blog has come out of numerous discussions with singers over the past few weeks: some seasoned professionals, some just beginning their journey.

Often, in our profession, we are called gypsies, or certainly our lifestyle is called that of a gypsy.

I think that more often than not, it can be misunderstood, even by the very people that are trying to live it!

Perhaps the most exciting, and yet frightening part of our lives as artists is its unpredictability.  Feast or famine is often a phrase that is used.  Be careful what you wish for.  The unpredictability often makes it difficult to plan for things.  But what if...I want THIS and THAT happens?

Perhaps it's where I am in my life, in my career, and in my response to things.  My answer is simple: So?

Anymore,  even those most mundane and predictable career-choices can be unpredictable.  LIFE is unpredictable.  However freeing and refreshing that we have chosen, (or the profession has chosen us) a LIFESTYLE of freedom - in being an artist.

So many "artists or performers in waiting"  stop the flow of unpredictability but trying to impose rules of "but what if" too quickly.

I have a chance to get a great day job that will pay my rent and keep me going for a while...but what if I get a show?

So? 

I am in a great relationship and I am wanting to pursue my career...I want a family too so what if I get pregnant?

So?

What is possible NOW?  Do you have that show yet?  Are you pregnant yet? What is the NOW looking like?  If the job is amazing and you are offered it - take it.  When the possibilities change,  you will see where you are and make the changes needed and necessary to remain true to you.  Stopping short a career possibility just in case you get pregnant?  Why?  Keep singing,  keep the possibility open for babies,  make decisions as they appear.

This is not being unrealistic nor is it being dishonest.  The unpredictability of life in general often makes us feel out of control.  We often then try to control the little we feel we can.  How ironic that that arts tend to attract the type A personalities isn't it?  Seriously, how much control do we actually have?  And what is it honestly?

So I turn the question around:

But what if you take each day as a renewed opportunity to ask yourself what is needed of you and for you today?

But what if you stay true to being the most realized artist you can be in this lifetime and allow that artistic endeavor to find its path?

But what if you claim your life's unpredictability and create an adventure?

But what if you simply claim what comes before you and work with it instead of looking past it to see if something looks better?

But what if you say "here I am, NOW.  What do I have to work with today?"

Turning down work because you MIGHT get a show and have to quit later, or adjust later does not pay the bills, nor get you that show.

Not taking a shift because you MIGHT get an audition doesn't guarantee you that audition.

Not dating someone who might end up becoming the love of your life, or a simple companion because you WANT to do a tour and wouldn't be available and don't want a long distance relationship does not guarantee the relationship, the date, nor the tour.

I think you see where I am going...

But what if you just take each day and BE?  But what if you admit it's a little scary and do it anyway?  But what if you claim what you do not yet own and discover the artist that resides in your being?  But what if you can actually do more than you think is possible?

But what if you have to make decisions?  But what if they are hard?

My answer: So? 

But what if you don't want to?  Then don't.

But what if you DO????

Do not un-create if you are offered possibilities.  Just breathing allows for possibilities.  Do not dismiss them because of what ifs.  Seize a chance to change to your life,  make it fuller, allow for living it.

But what if you find more than you ever hoped to look for?

Imagine it!