Do What You Love, Love What You Do

In my last post, I mentioned that I'd been blogging for roughly a year. Curious as ever,  I went back and checked, and it turns out (give or take a day) it has been exactly that. My first post was all about growing up as a straight male who enjoyed the not-so-hetero art of musical theatre.

It seems fitting then that I should want to write this post now, a year after taking up theatre as a hobby again. A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be on a pro stage for six nights with a brilliantly talent group of people. The best group of amateur actors I've ever performed with, in fact. My own biased opinion aside - I'd be the first to cringe at gushy Facebook statuses about 'awe-inspiring' amateur productions - it was so good to be part of something that genuinely made pro theatre staff question the quality of the touring production going on at the same time.

I put off writing this post until I'd had my fill of post-show blues (which you can read more about here), and had a clearer head, because I wanted to be sure about the direction I wanted this post to take. And this is it, in a nutshell: Do what you love, love what you do.

For fear of ruining someone's life, please don't leave your job, up sticks and try to save the turtles. The turtles are fine. They won't save you when you're homeless outside Starbucks. And that girl has moved on. If you turn up at her wedding, chances are you'll have ruined the best day of her life.

Cynicism aside, doing what you love in life is very important. And it becomes more important as you get older. I'm 23 - the phrase 'imparted wisdom' is not one I regularly associate with - but I know what's important to me. In the last year, this blog has helped me fix memories that I might not have had I not taken the time to look around and smell the roses. It's also encouraged me to do things I might have only ever discussed before, if only to write about them. The main point is that I'm doing what I love, and it makes my life more enjoyable. It turns out other people love doing what I do as well, which makes it all the more fun. There's even been the odd bit of recognition along the way as well. And if it all ended tomorrow, I know I'd be proud of what I've done in the last year.
 
Hopefully, in 12 months' time, you'll still find me doing what I love, loving what I'm doing.