For the Love of It
I wish I had a job like yours, they say. When my Instagram feed is full of airplane window views and beautiful beaches and interesting architecture my job…my life, looks quite glamorous.
But social media can make a disastrous messy kitchen look glamorous.
Behind those beautiful pictures that tell a story of traveling adventures are 18 hour days. Days where you leave home or the hotel room in the dark, before breakfast and return in the dark when it’s time for a midnight snack. Behind those photos is being bombarded with dozens of questions all at once until you can’t even think straight. Behind those photos is owning mistakes, rolling with the punches, coming up with a plan B and then C on the spot. It’s catering deliveries that are forgotten, speaker flights that are delayed, volunteers that have to cancel, overbooked hotels and shipments that are lost in transit.
And behind those photos is feeling the weight of carrying well the responsibility of being given the opportunity to help create experiences that drastically change the course of peoples lives.
In other words, behind those photos is a whole lot of un-glamorous.
On the other hand, when you put it that way, the glamour takes on a new meaning. The work may not be glamorous, but the impact of collaborative hard work is indescribably glamorous. There are few things that bring me as much joy as seeing people transported by a live experience to a world where dreams are inspired, passion is ignited, & light bulbs turn on. And even more? I often get to do all of these things alongside some of the most incredible people & dearest friends I’ve ever known.
So no, you don’t survive the exhaustion because you get to travel and spend time with some amazing people. I’m grateful for those things but they’re not sustaining. You survive the exhaustion because the endless hours of hard work are tied to your calling & passion. Creating live experiences is not for the faint of heart, but there is nothing like it.