Be BOLD.
This post will refer to Barack Obama, but it is not political. It is personal.
At the 2004 Democratic National Convention, then largely unknown Barack Obama gave a speech entitled "The Audacity of Hope." In 2006, he published a book by the same name. Always one to learn from the efforts of successful people, watching his meteoric ascent has made me think more about what "The Audacity of Hope" really means.
I know I know what "hope" means, and I thought I knew what "audacity" meant, but decided to look it up just to be sure. I found it to be synonymous with the word "bold". Then I looked up the word "bold", and found:
showing an ability to take risks; confident and courageous
In life in general, and in our line of business in particular, I believe that we have to be bold. Not loud and brash (for some of the boldest are the quietest among us), not overbearing and arrogant (for some of the boldest are courteous and understated in their confidence), but able to take risks, be confident, and act courageously during those times when we don't feel quite so confident.
To build an acting career is to build a castle of sand. To create something out of what (at first) looks like nothing. Less than nothing. Like dirt. Less than dirt, because, at least you can grow flowers in dirt. But you have a vision, so you dig. You add in some water, adjust your design when the right side falls down, and you make the left side the anchor. When the rain washes it all away, you may sit in pity for a while, but then you get up and keep going. After all, castles don't build themselves, do they? People point & laugh, because, once you've built it (IF you even get it built), what good will it do? Will it cure cancer? What will people say? You're only as hot as your latest...
But you keep building. Driven. Sometimes by excitement, sometimes by fear. You build. Risking everything: security, family, children (born or unborn), staking everything on the belief that what you are doing is worth doing. Some days you are confident in this belief. Some days, less so, but courageously, you continue on anyway.
Once you get it built, everyone applauds. "I KNEW you could do it!" They take pictures. Tell you how wonderful you are. Write your name a thousand times. Commission you to build other castles, even.
But deep down, you know that it was only possible because you allowed yourself to be bold. To be audacious enough to believe that you could do it, and persistent enough to hang in there.
I love quotes, and right now there are numerous quotes running through my head. Cliché's exist for a reason, I suppose. I will share just two with you in hopes that someone's waning spark will be reignited.
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them." --Thoreau
&
"Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid." --Goethe
Dare to live the in the audacity of hope, and see what happens.
Okay, one more quote: “If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, I will answer you: "I am here to live out loud”. -- Emile Zola
Now, I'm done.
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