"I'm so sad. You've changed."

"I'm so sad. You've changed."

-an ex, some years back.

I think one of the worst ways you could insult a person is to tell them that they haven't changed over a period of time. Life shapes and molds us, hopefully for the better as we learn and grow. If anything, "you've changed" were exactly the words I needed to hear.

I hope she has changed and grown.

I recently re-watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I remember first watching it long ago in theaters when it first came out. I distinctly remember wearing a blank smile and enjoying the action but carrying the general sentiment of "I have no idea what's going on"...

... while everybody else around me appeared to marvel while watching events unfold in complete and total awe. You could probably say the same thing about my first handful of times watching Star Wars episodes 1-3. I think it took me a while to grasp the depth and content of plot and dialogue as well as the politics and the general fudgery between parties and factions.

By "a while" I mean like a couple of decades. Better late than never, eh?

Now they seem like completely different stories than when I first watched them. Is it because I'm actually following the plot now? Turns out, they're pretty good movies! (I hear the books are phenomenal).

I guess some things are better appreciated with a little maturity. Again, better late than never, right?

....right??

Though my interest in voiceover started to really take root in my 30s, I think the seeded curiosity started in my 20s. At the time of course, I think I had a naive notion of what it entailed - like the majority of us do when we get started in the learning process of most fields out there. I could say the same thing about working as a nurse. I literally went into it with next to no knowledge of what the field actually entailed. I would have no idea that I'd be hissing under my breath at a disgruntled and resistant coworker to hand over his passport to the nice men carrying guns before his mouth got us detained in Honduras on a given afternoon. But that's a story for another time.

Approaching voiceover with me today compared to me in my 20s I think would be two very different pictures. In our youth, I think a lot of our minds are geared more towards instant gratification. We're more distractible. At least I was.

I like the fact that I have to be diligent for this to work. That I have to slowly and steadily chip away at my goals, learning experiences, and build up this resume and skillset. What at first seemed daunting and unattractive I think gives this field some of its beauty and greatest strengths. And while a lot of the time, looking forward that can seem overwhelming, I also know that if I keep moving forward I can totally do this. And if you're reading this because you're also in the world of voiceover: you can do it, too. I'm here, cheering for you and your success, whatever that may be - great or small.

Here's to appreciating complexity, depth, and the challenges that yield rewards in the long run.

Here's to growth. And to those of you out there reading, I hope you have changed with your growth. And that while we might cringe a little while looking at moments in our past, we can at least smile when we look to ourselves today and when we look forward toward our future.

#Voiceover #Growth #Change #LOTR #StarWars #Maturity #Youth #Diligent #Curiosity #Seattle