(That's me, in the blue shorts, makin' a fool of myself!)
So, just a few weeks ago, and low-key over the course of this semester, I decided to scrap all of my plans for the next few years, and go for it.
I decided that instead of being a Journalism major with a bunch of little minors, to just scrap my other little hobbies and double major in Theater.
I began this semester with minors in theater and french as a way to explore them both and I thought I could do it all. And I could have before.
But, I guess it's more about what it meant. I decided I want to act.
I want to be an actress.
Which is like the adult version of saying "I want to be a Princess."
When I first came to ASU, I didn't want to be a Theater major. I have really big plans in life, and I'm so ambitious, that I didn't want to live this rough starving artist life. I danced for five years, and I was in a show choir for three; I was in numerous productions in high school, and I thought, "Hey, I've done the theater thing, and it was fun, but I don't want to do it my whole life."
*nervous chuckle*
I made it a year.
Then I decided to minor in theater because I missed it and I thought it would be fun. This semester I took Intro to Acting and Intro to Theater. Acting scared me. I didn't want to be bad at it, and I always want to control things, which is like the worst habit to have in acting. Intro to theater on the other hand, I figured, would just be some silly online class about Greece and Rome and Tragedy and Comedy-- I thought I'd heard it all before.
0-2, Carly.
My theater class was full of really fascinating perspectives and principles of theater, and my acting class was challenging but fun and I grew so much from it.
One day I was sitting in my car, I had just left acting and I was about to head home. We had been finishing up scene showings, and then we played around with some improv (Whose Line Is It Anyway style), and I thought "I don't want to go home."
And I was reminded about all the times I stayed at my high school until 9 p.m. for rehearsal, or I got up at 7 a.m. on a Saturday for dance practice. I thought about how at least once a week I would push homework off for a voice lesson or for dance class and I realized:
I did it for the work. I did it because I love the work.
I texted my mom and she replied with, "Follow your dreams" and a little heart emoji. I don't think she realized how much that support changed things for me. Probably not until she reads this... (Hi, mom!)
So yes, I'm keeping journalism under my belt, but I'm pursuing acting because I love the work.
And when you love the work, it's your calling.
