You

I think one big part of being any sort of artist is accepting, loving, knowing and believing in yourself. I think everyone is an artist in their own way. For me, it's theater. Getting on stage to me is freedom. It is power. It is hope and confidence and for me, it is the best feeling in the world. Theater is about believing. Not simply believing in yourself, but believing in others. Theater is one of the biggest team sports you could ever watch because everyone needs everyone. Even, you, as an audience member, we need you. And we hope somewhere along the line you need us too; hat's why you keep coming back. Theater is about believing in life, in goodness, in hope. It's about seeing the world as it really is. One very important aspect of theater to an actor, and to me personally, is believing in you. In a way, the world has really screwed up. It seems to have confused what we should truly value for what we seem to value. We value contouring kits and fashion sense; the talent of being able to retrieve the perfect selfie, whereas, we should be valuing those deep, beautiful, gifts people can give and those who bring them to life; the gift of art, the ability to make one feel important, a good work ethic. These kind of things are being so over looked and the people that have the greatest ability to change the world are forgetting to believe in themselves because of how this world has evolved. Believe in you. Believe in your beautiful abilities. Just the other day I heard some say to another that they should believe in themselves and I watched it spark a flame of greatness in this young person. This is what we need. Maybe you are sad or angry or depressed or anxious. Or maybe you are happy, satisfied, calm and reassured. Maybe you are a mixture of both aspects. Either way, know what is important. You. You are important and you should never stand for anyone to tell you otherwise. There are going to be times where you feel that you stand alone, where you feel as though maybe nobody in the world believes in you. That is why you need to believe in yourself, always. In the world of theater, you are slapped down more times than you are validated. You are told that you are not good enough, not tall enough, not enough. You are told by directors, peers, random people you don't know that you are not enough but because you live to believe in yourself you will prove them wrong. If only you just believe. As I have almost come to the end of my semester in college this is something I am learning. You're going to compare, we all do it every day without even realizing it. I am so lucky to be where I am and there are so many talented people here that there are times where I wonder if I'm in the right place-if I deserve to be here with all this beauty and talent. But in the end it's about believing in myself, Even when I don't firmly know these things, I believe that I am enough and that I will make it here and that gets me places.