Don’t Let Your Career Define You

We work in an industry that for many of us has been a lifelong dream, and when we finally make it to “the show”, there’s nothing more we’d like to do. Even 35 years after I started there are still days and shows where I don’t want to do anything else but be on set (although they are fewer than they were originally….). One of the things about this industry, if you love filmmaking, and I mean really love it, is that it is a drug - in both good and bad ways - but nonetheless a drug.

We get that call and it’s akin to a high - someone wants me, I have value, I get to go out and be paid to do something I would do for free! But then sometimes we hit slumps and the calls don’t come - nobody wants me, I’m no good, why isn’t anyone calling me, I’ll never work again.

This is why, as much as we love what we do, we can't let our jobs define us. Find something else in your life - your family, your hobbies, your passion projects, volunteering - whatever it is, and focus on that and allow that to make you whole. While there's an unhealthy aspect to simply letting your job define you in general, there is a much larger reason for this as well. If you love gardening with all your heart and it's what you live for, you can always go out and garden. If your two year old is your world, you can always grab him or her and go to the park. But if your world is all about working in the film industry, then your happiness and self worth are dependent on something entirely out of your control, and that is not healthy. No matter how well you do in this industry, if that is who you are, it will eventually take you down.

Love what you do, but don't make it your life.