Taking Risks as a Performer – To Boldly Go where you’ve not Gone Before!

July 12, 2016, Debbie Bridge, Acting, Life Balance, singing, , 2

OK, hands up, I’m a Trekkie, from before the time that term was even created and seeing as the new Star Trek movie is to be released, I thought about what it means for me today to ‘Boldly go where I’ve never been before!’

I see myself as a relatively conservative risk taker, at least with money, but it seems I may live outside the box in my choices.

Some examples:

• jumped off the side of a mountain – paragliding
• jumped out of a plane – tandem jump
• studied for a year in Germany & realised pretty quick that the money wasn’t enough for me to live on
• came to the UK, knew no one – once again, realising the money wasn’t enough
• gone river rafting
• walked alone in a Canadian park and faced a bear
• left my 1st husband with below poverty level income
• took a year out to travel and not at an age anywhere near my 20’s, facing the fear my career would be killed by it
• found out I like brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes and many, many other foods I didn’t grow up eating or liking
• started up several small business ventures with mixed results
• turned around several small businesses to take them from not making money to making money (& yes, some of these were in the arts)
• spoke to total strangers at parties or even bus stops
• learned to sing/act & dance despite being told as a child I couldn’t do any of these things well & then went on to make a career of each one
• self-produced – stage shows, events and short films
• set up my own websites
• etc.

Do these things make me a risk taker? I’m sure there’s a debate in it.  One thing I do know that working in the arts helps me find how much I can change and that something that was true yesterday for me, may not be true today or tomorrow because I keep learning, keep pushing my own personal boundaries as I discover more about myself and the world around me.

This is key for me: to always keep learning.

The people I admire the most live and speak these words and so I continue to seek new paths and develop existing ones I never dreamed possible when I started.

What paths or risks or frontiers have you taken?  What does it mean to be you?

Acting, Beyond, performer, Risk Taking, singing, Star Trek

‹ Update – Debbie Bridge