I’ve lost a lot since being sick, and have had a lot of time to think about what matters to me and why I’m still fighting. It’s not art. I thought it would be. I thought that being in this city to pursue what I’ve been working towards my whole life would be the reward. But it’s not. I’m not finding student films to audition for, nor writing screenplays as I am on bedrest: Instead I’m dying to jump into someone’s arms. To spend time with people that love me. To make scarves and crafts for the people I love. Anything to show them how much they matter to me. People are everything, I’m realizing, and I’m willing to give up anything to be with them. More than any career, I want people to love, and it’s terrifying to release myself from a goal that I’ve had for over a decade, but it’s also a relief to know what I really want. And that’s a family.
So I’m not saying I’m going to go out and get pregnant and raise a bunch of spawn to feel loved, but rather I’m willing to make changes to my life to be with those that I still have left. Because this has been some of the hardest months of my life (and I haven’t had the easiest of lives) and those that are still here, willing to hold my hand and listen to me as I cry, they are more important to me than any possible career.
I don’t exactly know what this means: I still only know how to express myself in writing and feel more connected to acting than anything I’ve ever found. But I would rather have a life without artistic success but people that I love, than achieve success alone.
So we’ll see what the future brings.
Tomorrow I move to a new home, one that I never planned on having, without the people I thought I would live with. So I’ll see how it fits into my future. In the meantime, I know I am willing to do whatever it takes to keep in my life those that I love, though I don’t know yet what that means….or if that’s enough not to lose them. But I have to hope it is.
So change is happening and change will continue to come. But if it brings me closer to those that I love, then I have to love change, too.
image by Tobias Tovera
Change is life, baby. This is something I know.
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