Learning Diary 1

In this first learning diary I want to talk about career progression and whether the decisions we make at certain times in our professional lives are for the best or for the worst. The reason I have been thinking about this is because recently I decided to leave my current work placement at Chickenshed Theatre to peruse my career as an actor elsewhere. I thought long and hard about this decision, I considered what would happen if I left and then struggled to find work, I questioned my ability to “make it”. I also worried about how this change would affect my university course and choosing a topic title. I knew that if I stayed at Chickenshed I would have been supported there in whatever topic I had chosen and been given the resources I needed to carry out my topic research. So was this my safe option?
Since leaving Chickenshed I have focused all of my energy into finding myself the right kind of work and representation. So far I have been extremely lucky and have had a constant stream of work, and only this week landed my first speaking role for a programme for the BBC. I have realised that within the work I am doing now there is a huge network of people that I can call upon to help me research my topic.
I think that had I not left Chickenshed when I did then the opportunities that have arisen since, may not have come up, so I feel that I have definitely made the right career progression for me at this time.