Break Time!

This month I had a week that looked like this:

Sunday - improv business meeting
Monday - improv class
Tuesday - improv practice
Wednesday - improv practice
Thursday - improv performance
Friday - dinner with friends
Saturday - filming improv stuff
Sunday - improv business meeting

That was last week, Sunday to Sunday. Add into that 46.5 hours of my "day job"...and it leaves little time for anything else (like a personal life).

So I've decided to do the hard thing and scale back on a few of my improv commitments. It wasn't an easy decision (the right ones rarely are, I'm finding).

I don't like the idea of missing out on anything, or anyone questioning whether I take this thing seriously or not. I do, obviously! And I'm still WAY involved in the improv scene here in KC. Still doing everything Holy Cow! Still working with Trish on the festival in September. Still performing with WyCo TriCo (it's our prize performances, after all!) Still loving it. Still doing it. Just not every night...because then it becomes something quite different than a hobby or even a serious hobby. Then it becomes a job, and all the negative connotations that float around the word "work".

Other artists with a day job must have this problem of finding the balance. Lately my life has been very heavily weighted on MY side of things (specifically my improv side of things). But, the thing is, it's not just about me. I'm in a serious relationship which means I have to take his needs into account. We can't just center our social lives around my improv performances and my comedian friends. While that (mostly - I mean, I do other stuff besides improv if you can believe it) works out for me, M* is not an improv comedian. He's a musician, and an entrepreneur, and a homebrewer, and a cook. And he loves me and wants me to be part of his hobbies and his life just as much as he is part of mine.

But the finding of the balance... that is hard! Compromising isn't fun, but it's necessary.

I want it all: a family, a career, and improv. That's what I'm working towards, and I must make time in my life for all 3.