Kaboom!
Life is about evolution. Without change, people would be stuck in one place. Think of what wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t evolved from cave men: government, mathematics, science, religion, and music. None of it would have happened if humans had stayed the same. Change is useful, even necessary. Taking a chance or making a mistake usually causes change. Actors have this life lesson at heart.
Good acting is all about reacting and taking risks. It’s a thrill to do this, because you get to share this experience with the audience. You get to do what millions of people wish they could do; because that’s what makes life interesting. “In this way, Shane, we are very much brother and sister. This is the biggest mistake I could think would save me. I wanted to give up the idea I had any control. Shake things up. To be saved by chaos. To see if I could cope, I wanted to force myself to grow again. To explode my comfort zone.” In this quote from Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahnuik, The main character is explaining her motive from screwing up big time. But shouldn’t we all screw up big-time?
Every day for the past 20 years, you have driven your crappy green Beemer down the traffic-congested freeway to a tall rectangular pile of cow dung that you call an office building. You park in your regular spot in the back corner of the lot, take your briefcase and head into the building. You cram yourself in an elevator with people who don’t know what deodorant is and people who know what cologne is. It smells like that restroom at Del Taco on Interstate 35; false and fluffy. The man in front of you is wearing a toupee. You know this because it’s on backwards. This man in front of you has been bothering you for the past 20 years, begging you to fix the copy machine, or fix the Linux server. He is your boss and you hate him more than you hate anything else. The elevator gets to your floor and you enter the dull gray hallway with its dull green walls and its dull fluorescent lights. You walk down the hall to your cube farm, then down another hall to another hall to your cubicle. You enter the cubicle as you do every day; already wishing you were leaving it. Don’t worry; you’ll leave in 12 hours, not knowing the difference. But why do you put up with it?
You put up with it because you don’t have the courage to stand up to life and shout, “I don’t care anymore!” Try screaming that in your bosses face if you’re that tired of it. Get fired. Go broke. Lose your house, your wife, and your kids. Never talk to your family. Become a vagabond. Live on the street for a month, and then get used to it. Build a routine. Make your new life bearable. And then in 20 years, you’ll do the whole thing over again. It’s how humanity works; ever evolving, every changing. It’s a shame it has to happen, isn’t it.