The Mountain

Actor training is a continued process of learning that can go on for your entire life.  Whether you subscribe to the 20,000 hours to reach expertise, or the 20 years, or the 10 years, or whatever. Either way, when you’re learning something new, it can feel like a bloody mountain that you’ve got to climb.

And I want to tell you something: it is a mountain every day. It never becomes a breezy mountain river. It is a mountain climb from start to finish.  You’ve got to keep climbing or you’re just going to get stuck where you are.  So often students complain that they don’t feel like they’re progressing, but of course they are. It’s just not getting easier.

Climbing the mountain does not get easier the further up you get.  That’s the same with learning to be the best actor you can be.  It’s going to be a sincere struggle, but you are going to get better, it’s just that’s not going to seem any easier as you get good.  Sure, you might get a bit quicker as you get fitter, you might be able to make decisions and choices with a bit more ease, you might find that the journey isn’t quite as painful, but it will remain a struggle.

Once you’ve climbed a mountain, another presents itself as a mountain in the distance to challenge you. And climbing that mountain is going to be difficult too. It’s going to be struggle and you are going to have to sweat to accomplish the climb.

My honest advice to you is just keep going, you are getting better, just don’t expect it to get easy, you will just get used to the task at hand. You will improve, you will learn and you will grow, but the mountain will always be a mountain. Accept it and keep climbing.