Is It Worth It?

Where are you going exactly in life? YouTube videos, wrock concerts, Harry Potter, acting? Do you expect to make a living out of this?

Yes.

You need to focus on school. Do your work! Do you realise you have ACTs this Saturday? Did you even start studying for them?

No.

Matthew, what are you thinking? Get off of this blog right now! No, don't you think of switching back to YouTube. Get off the computer right now. You have to read and annotate this packet for the English discussion tomorrow. I know you have a field trip, but there are things you have to make your priority and this isn't one of them.

Whoa, slow down realistic me. I will get around to it. Don't you understand? This is what I like to do. These are things that I want to carry through with for the rest of my life.

You can't make it to college on that alone. You need good grades.

I have good grades, remember? Even if one or two are slipping, y'know, it's still good.

Why do you do this to yourself. Get real. You can't make a living off of YouTube. Most people that dream to become famous, wealthy actors never do. And this blog? Shouldn't you be writing an essay due next Friday instead?

I'm trying to establish myself, ok? I can make money off of YouTube if I work at it. I can become a good actor if I keep up with it. And that essay? I should probably read the book first, so I'm continuing with the blog.

You're going to disappoint your parents. Is it worth it?

Is anything worth it? Is working so freaking hard on stuff everyday for at least 19 years just to try and earn some form of degree worth it? 19 years of your life, wasted. Perhaps you spent some of that time having fun, doing what you wanted to do, but if it was ultimately all about the school work, there's no way to regain that time. I'm trying to enjoy myself as much as humanly possible before I really do have to work all day and pay for a house and food and whatnot. I know I need good grades for college. I'll get them. Don't you worry. I will be attending college. Oxford? Maybe not, but a good school nonetheless.

Why do you do this? You think so unrealistically. It's as if everything to you is some wonderful dream. Well you know what? Most of them are impossible.

Funny you should mention the impossible dream, realistic me. Maybe you should stop complaining and really open your eyes during Man of La Mancha rehearsals. You need to understand that reality is not the best thing out there. You need to dream, and dream big! Live a little. Live a lot (safely and legally of course.) One must have a dreamy sense of reality to make it through the day. Bad stuff happens. School isn't perfect. In fact, I hate school. That's sad for me to admit. To think I loved it where I was just a year ago and now I'd do anything to get out of it. I must have these things in control of my life to take me away from this feeling towards something I must attend five days a week not to mention long, sometimes unnecessarily long rehearsals on the weekends. Is it worth it to surround yourself in a world of things you love?

You tell me.

Yes. It's all worth it and there's nothing that could ever change my mind. Do what you love and make that your living. Someway somehow it can be done. Don't listen to people that tell you that your goal in life is impossible. Given that it is not to fly to Mars with jetboots, you've got a chance in the world. Go for it.