Rishire Writes

Happy belated new year! I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling 22 if you know what I’m saying! I chose to start this year pursuing peace. The last few months of 2021 were crazy hard for me, and I decided to do something about it, so I quit my job in January.

Let me give you a bit of context. I’m an actor, and like a lot of actors at my level, meaning ones who have yet to book anything even remotely lucrative, I have to have a day job. When I say I have hated just about every day job I’ve had since graduating college, I would be underselling my experience. Don’t get me wrong, I have liked some of the companies and people that I’ve worked for, I’ve just hated the jobs that I’ve done. I’ve been anything from a hostess at a restaurant to a customer service rep to most recently, a sales rep. Each job was worse than the last somehow.

I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I know what I want to do, and I have all of these high expectations for myself, but I’m constantly falling short, because it feels like there is so little that is in my control. Like just about every creative field, there are no steps to becoming a successful or at least working actor. It’s not like moving up the ladder at a company where you started in the mail room. Success stories for famous actors range from getting incredibly lucky at an open casting to being discovered at a mall and everything in between.

Those of us without any discernible connections are left to split our energies between pursuing our dreams and paying our bills, and I was honestly at my wits end with that. So now I’m underemployed, doing freelance marketing work, which I really like, diving back into the wonderful world of restaurant hosting, which I’m kind of excited about, and pinching the crap out of my pennies, which isn’t much fun. I don’t regret my decision to quit my job, though. For the past few months, I have felt lighter and a lot less anxious, and that means way more to me than a solid, stable salary.

I still treat the weekdays like workdays, and I’m actually quite busy, which is such a blessing. This year, I’m all about chasing my dreams no matter what and doing at least one thing every day that moves the needle. I want to encourage all of you to do the same by showing you what that looks like for me! Consider this my public diary – no key required.