I was recently turned onto a YouTube program created by The Hollywood Reporter. I am normally not a person who pays much attention to media that surrounds celebrities, but the interviews conducted during these segments called Roundtables are actually really intelligent. Being a big fan of movies I have become intrigued by these interviews and the incredibly talented actors and actresses that participate in them. One segment in particular called Close Up caught my attention being that it was from the Oscars of 2016. Brie Larson, who won an Oscar for her role in “Room,” began talking about being an actress and having chances that didn’t work out and questioning her purpose within the industry (7:09). She says, “Oh I quit many times. It was too hard…I never got anywhere with anything.” She started asking herself “am I just delusional?” What she shared is a common concern with almost everyone pursuing a career, especially if that particular career could be labeled as a “dream.” The table also included Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, Jane Fonda, Helen Mirren, and Carey Mulligan, who each shared about acting as a vocation for them and agreed they were afraid of acting at times (10:21). I think we can all relate to the feeling of fear, anxiety, and lack of confidence within our chosen profession. This is why Brie’s eloquent and truthful sentiment (specifically) awoke a myriad of thought within me. What she and the rest of the women had to say can be translated into advice for any career.

The reality is when you're first starting out it's not easy. It doesn't necessarily matter what career path you choose, as a beginner it can be discouraging. Most people aren't going to fall into a position that qualifies as their dream job right away. Even after you work your whole life at school, you still work towards your ideal position. You have to constantly push yourself harder and that becomes tiring. Unwavering determination is a quality that in all truth becomes vital to having success. The minute you begin to slow you could lose out on an opportunity. For writing, unless you have had your work completely ripped apart you haven't experienced the deep cutting knife-like emotions that engulf your entire soul, maybe even your ego, when your superior makes you rewrite a piece three times and still ends up being unhappy with it. This moment will make you question everything you've worked for. Questions like, "did I pick the right career?" will absolutely run across your mind. But the reality is that nearly every successful writer has been in that position and will (hopefully) say that it made them better.

So hearing similar stories from the prominent actresses that surrounded that table really solidified, in me, emotions that I had been feeling recently. Look at how successful they are. Their victories within the industry were earned after years of awkward auditions, rejections, and criticisms (that weren't always constructive). Being forced to work that hard for your passion will make grasping it that much sweeter, it will make you empathetic to those that come after you, and it will make you brilliant in your career. Some say that nothing worth having comes easy, and as cliché as I believe that to be, it isn’t completely untrue. We have to remember when doubt sets in, and it will, that it’s only a moment. This moment could last for what feels like eternity, but there’s going to be a time in your life when you know with all certainty that you are making the right decision, and that you are extraordinary.