How to Stay the Course

Let's be real for a second:

There’s nothing quite as humbling as looking at your vision board… and realizing that your current reality looks absolutely nothing like it.

On the board: Broadway marquee lights.
👉🏻In reality: A tangled wig from your fourth Ariel "Disney Princess" gig of the weekend.

On the board: Your dream theatre & your name in the Playbill.
👉🏻In reality: a “dressing room” that’s actually the janitor’s closet, with one cracked mirror and a chair that wobbles.

Yeah. Been there.

For a while, it felt like the universe was ghosting me. 

I had a big dream: Broadway or bust. 

And yet, no matter how many auditions I showed up to, how many headshots and resumes I submitted, or how many vocal warmups I did in that questionable & slightly scary but cheap rehearsal studio in Midtown (Harlequin Studios! Anybody!!?), Broadway wasn’t calling.

Instead? Princess parties, concerts here & there, and regional gigs barely covering the bills.

Singing Part of your World in someone’s backyard while applying fingernail art to 6 year old girls is humbling in ways they don’t teach you about in grad school. 😂

At the time, it all felt like a detour.

Like maybe I’d missed my shot.

But here’s the thing: detours are not dead ends.

One random Wednesday in October almost 16 years ago (to the day!), I got a call. A last-minute audition for the revival of A Little Night Music. I dropped everything and started prepping. (Thank you to my hubby for coaching me through that!)

3 days later I’m driving to rehearsal in NYC and meeting Angela Lansbury & Catherine Zeta-Jones. Mind blown!

After about a year or so of performing in that beautiful show at the Walter Kerr Theatre with that exquisite cast, I came across my old vision board I’d made back during the princess-party-regional-theatre era… and staring back at me was the name of that exact theatre.

I had cut it out from a Grey Gardens program (loved that show!) stuck it on the board, and promptly forgotten about it.

My jaw dropped.

Because in the messy middle of things “not working out”, I couldn’t see that my path was still bending toward that vision…even if it wasn’t happening on my timeline.

So what’s the lesson here?

1. The universe loves a plot twist.
   Just because it’s not happening the way you pictured doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Sometimes you have to let go of the how so the when and where can surprise you. 
2. Your “side quests” are secretly training you.
   I’m not joking when I say singing Queen of the Night at 9 AM for outreach programing teaches you stamina. Performing in gymnasiums with no acoustics sharpens your skills. Juggling side hustles teaches you resilience. All of it counts!
3. Flexibility is not failure.
   Pivoting doesn’t mean you’ve given up on the dream. It means you’re willing to stay in the game long enough to actually get the call. And sometimes that means saying “yes” to opportunities that don’t look glamorous at the time. (AND when it's time, learning how to say no so you can say YES to the ones that matter the most, but more on that in another blog!)
4. Vision boards are not delivery apps.
   You don’t get to order “Broadway by next Tuesday.” But they do remind you of what you’re aiming for…and sometimes, if you stick with it, you’ll look back and realize you actually got what you asked for. Just not in the way you thought you would.

So, if you’re a singer staring at your own vision board and thinking, “Um, excuse me, universe, are you lost?”… don’t give up.

Keep singing. Keep showing up. Stay open. Stay flexible. Pivot when you need to.

Whatever your singing goals are, just know that the path won’t always be linear.

Because here’s the truth: the “not working out” seasons are usually just the middle chapters, not the ending.

And when you finally get to flip back through them, you’ll see how every gig, every side quest added up to get you where you wanted to go.

It all counts. Yes, even Harlequin Studios. ;)