What If We Experiment?

Many people I know in the Broadway community are contemplating a major life change. 

This might look like moving to a different city, moving to a different industry, going back to school, taking a 9 to 5 job, and so many other possibilities. When they talk about the decision they are considering, it feels heavy. It feels like the choice they are making is a choice they are going to have to commit for the rest of their lives. 

You might resonate with this. You might be contemplating a big life change of your own. You, too, might be feeling the fear and the weight of the consequences of that decision. 

You might be asking yourself a ton of questions. What does it mean to make a choice like this? What if you make the change and you don't like it? What if you decide to go back to school and find yourself disinterested? What if you move to San Francisco and hate it there? What if…?

Here’s a different question for you… What if you were to reframe this whole thing? Instead of thinking of this as a “major life decision,” what if you frame it as “an experiment”? What if you give yourself permission to see how it goes, and then based on new experiences and new information, make a new decision to run a new experiment? What if you run a series of experiments?  

If you decide to sign a 12 month lease on an apartment in San Francisco, for example, perhaps you've just committed to a 12 month experiment with the city instead of committing to being a life-long resident? If you pursue a two year master's degree program in something not arts-related, what if you think of that as a two year experiment? At the end of the experiment, you can decide what experiment to pursue next with your new education. 

This notion that the decision we make right now has to be the one we commit to for the rest of our lives is holding us back. 

Let's give ourselves a bit of space, a bit of grace, and the freedom to experiment.