No it is a complaint blog or even a gripe session. It is about adventuring out of your comfort zone and seeing what is out there. I am more free about this with teaching my classes. I throw my notes away every year just to force myself to redo the research but also allows me to build on what I know works. Acting I go out for roles that are a stretch not safe. I have even agreed to do a play where I will have to develop a German and Italian accents. No clue how I am going to do it but I will do it. Writing wise I am attempting to learn how to write commercial specs thanks to a friend guiding me through it.
The thing is we do not grow unless we reach out. Applying for a job that you feel is out of your reach or doing something that normally would not make sense but you have nothing to lose. The very worse that anyone can really say to us when we venture out is no. I get told no a lot. Hey part of the process. Some people will love what you do and some will hate it and more may not understand it. That is okay because your doing it not them. I am still shocked at how I get responses for things I never even remotely expect to hear from that I have applied for such as, a think tank, movie roles and even creative consultant jobs. Nothing panned out but that is not the point. I would have never gotten to meet some very cool people otherwise.
One of the things I tend to fight is my age. Okay so I am a bit older does not mean I have grown up. I still have a hunger to learn and grow. There is too much to discover and frontiers to venture and explore. I see so many young people forget the wisdom of a hard lesson. Failure isn't the end of the world or diminishing as a human being but it is a valued lesson in what not to do or how to change something to make it work. It is the motivation to recreate or reinterpret or just flat out come up with something new. That is what makes it exciting. No is just a word not a roadblock or the end of the world. I say no to my students all the time, and to salesman and to anything I do not feel I should be doing. No is a tool. No is a motivation if you allow it to be instead of stopping you.
WHAT THE HECK!!!! Go for it. Raise the bar and reach out for something that has meaning to you. You cannot grow if you do not stretch out. Yes there are growing pains. Yes there are setbacks. Reach, grow and take that leap. Thanks for reading.