"If in life, you know what you want to do, you're very very lucky. And at that point, you should never have any self doubt. You should just go on and you should just thank God that you have been allowed, and that you are able, to work in the area that you love."
~ Andrew Lloyd Webber
If you watched the Tribute to Andrew Lloyd Weber on NBC a couple of weeks ago, you heard him say this in response to a teen's question about if he ever experienced self-doubt. Not only did he acknowledge that self doubt is an ever present experience of those wondering how their work stacks up to the work they've done and hope to do, he managed to simply and calmly calibrate that feeling by reminding us that doing work we love is value in itself.
As an artist with big goals myself, I really appreciated and was rather taken with his description of how he works with and through self doubt. At 70 years old, this creative genius continues to create his work and hopes to inspire others to love and enjoy musical theater as much as he does. Self doubt has certainly been present throughout most of my performance and coaching experience. Am I good enough for that show? What if I don't make it? How much longer should I keep trying? What if I'm too old to be considered? What if the students don't like me? What if I can't keep up? What if this show isn't as good as the last one?
Whenever these questions pop up, I will continue to be inspired by ALW and remind myself that I would rather be flying and performing, than not. So as long as I keep doing it, it's good enough for whatever's next. And I am very very lucky to know what I want to do and to be able to do it.
~Cheryl
P.S. I love finding inspiration everywhere I can. If you have any recommendations, message me through the contact link. If you're looking for more, check out Cars 3. If you haven't seen this latest addition to the franchise, I recommend it, especially if you are a coach or mentor of any kind or ever contemplate what the end of your performance career looks like.