Changing Careers-

I have known Emily for around 10 years now. We bonded over our love of musicals and accidental matching outfits. We always talk about what roles we would want to play on the West End, imagine what a Broadway debut feels like and wanting to meet every Broadway performer there is.

A couple of months ago, after finishing a 3 Year Performing Arts BA Hons degree, she decided to stop training as a performer and train as a teacher instead. I think this was really brave of her to do as I know it can be hard changing careers when you’ve spent so long training for a specific route. So, I wanted to share her story and any advice she has for people too nervous to jump to a different career path. Also, it was an excuse to see her dog so it was a win/win.

This was what she had to say:

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher because growing up I didn’t really know you could do theatre as a job. I did always seem to be really jealous of the kids in Annie or The Sound Of Music. I thought, well why can’t I do that? Of course I had this fantasy world of wanting to be on stage and I attended theatre classes growing up. However, I also spent my early days playing ‘schools.’ My Bampy used to sit with me for hours pretending to be my student. I always enjoyed school and always knew I would be a teacher one day.

When I reached Sixth Form, I had a really hard time deciding what I wanted to do, and that decision continued until very recently. It’s been six years of my brain constantly switching between two different career options, which is really tiring. The first problem I had was deciding whether I wanted to be in Sixth Form or College to do musical theatre. I knew I wanted to do my A Levels. For piece of mind, I wanted a sort of a back up plan, which I think you always need when you want to do theatre. I wanted to be able to do a PGCE later on in life if theatre didn’t work out. So I did go to Sixth Form, I’m so glad I did. I had a great time and enjoyed doing my A Levels. I’m a big planner, which sometimes goes against me, but thinking everything through has definitely helped me make good decisions.

Whilst in Sixth Form, I got the lead role in the school show, Camp Rock, which made me realise that maybe I could do theatre as a job. Meanwhile, I got a scholarship to go to Cardiff University to do Religious Studies, with the idea of becoming a teacher after that. As you can probably tell, I was completely torn between the two careers. Then, I did a performance of Legally Blonde the month before I was due to start university and thought, no, this is what I love, so I took a gap year to think it through and find a course that suited me better. I always recommend a gap year to people because in school, you feel like you have to do what you’re good at and not always what you love. There’s more subjects out there than the ones you learn at school.

I found the perfect Performing Arts course which allowed me to get a degree, which I knew would be really important when applying for any job in the future, and it was a subject I really enjoyed. I LOVED it, and even though I’ve decided not to pursue theatre, I don’t regret it for a second. When I first started at University, I really struggled. It’s a weird time anyway, but sometimes I felt like I wanted to be in a drama school in London instead, but I was too scared of not being good enough to audition. Forward to my third year, I had the best time and enjoyed every moment with all my friends. I accepted that this was where I was supposed to be and I could always go to drama school after I graduate.

The London School of Musical Theatre was my dream school. It’s one year of intense training which could catapult me into the industry. I went for it. I had a really lovely experience auditioning there and I got on the reserve list, but it didn’t work out. It was a long year waiting to see if I got a place, and I really struggled with the uncertainty. I also knew I would need more singing and dancing lessons if I wanted to audition again, but part of me just didn’t want to do it. I wanted to be a performer but I didn’t really want to work that hard for it and dedicate my whole life to it, which made me realise maybe it wasn’t for me.

So I embarked on another gap year. I did some auditions in London but I just didn’t feel good enough. It really damaged my confidence. Making myself sick with nerves because of auditions just didn’t sit right with me. Some people can handle that stuff, and for them, the reward is worth the struggle, but for me it wasn’t. I lost all the love I had for theatre, which really upset me. I’m also the type of person who wants to be the best at what I do, and I knew I couldn’t be the best in musical theatre. Now that I’ve made that decision, I couldn’t be happier. Despite the sleepless nights and countless tears, I’ve also found that I now enjoy watching theatre a lot more. I can actually sit back and enjoy it, rather than stress, wondering if I would be good enough to be in that show. The beauty of theatre is that it can be a hobby, unlike some industries that you can’t do as a hobby (like being a doctor). I like the idea of having the best of both worlds. Being in Am Dram but not depending on it as a job is enough for me. It’s important to have dreams, and lots of people do reach them, and I urge you to follow yours, but also dreams change and there comes a point when you have to be realistic too. Like Albus Dumbledore said; ‘It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.’ I don’t want to waste my life waiting for a dream to happen when I could be doing other things I love.

It was scary making the decision to change careers and telling people that I was going to start doing a PGCE instead. My mum would always ask me, ‘who are you doing this for?’ I think that made me wonder if I wanted to do musical theatre for the right reasons. It definitely made me think that maybe I was doing it for everyone else, like the people who believed in me and the people who love to hear me sing. I really didn’t want to let anyone down by deciding I didn’t want to do it anymore. I soon realised that people don’t dwell on your dreams, they have their own lives to think about. No one is going to be sat in their house crying because they’ll never see me on the West End. I thought that people would think I was weak for essentially giving up, but actually, lots of people thought that I was both sensible and brave for changing what I wanted to do. I didn’t agree at first, but now I do believe it’s really brave to change careers. I got a really positive response and everyone was so supportive when I announced on Facebook that I wanted to be a teacher.

Not having regrets is really important. I loved training to be a performer and every decision I made was what was right at the time. Just because I don’t want to do that anymore doesn’t mean I regret the years of training. I learnt so many skills that I carry forward into everything I do. It’s ok to change your mind. We grow and so do our dreams and interests. You’ve got to try things out until you realise what you’re truly passionate about. Allow yourself to do different things, like when you’re a kid and you join and quit all the different sports and activities and clubs, until you find what’s right for you, and that’s the same when you’re an adult too. I’m in my twenties now, which is the weirdest time. Some people are married with kids, some have successful careers and some people are still living at home with their parents. I find it hard not to compare myself to other people but I think it’s something I have to accept; everyone is on a different path.”

As Sara Bareilles sings; ‘Letting go is braver than keeping.’

If you are struggling with deciding what you want to do or want to share your story about changing careers, please DM me on insta @letsbecandid_ or email me at letusbecandid@gmail.com

Peace

Cadi x