Pet Peeve: The Question Part 2

This post from HelloGiggles is possibly one of the more important things I've read recently. It's titled: "How to answer the question 'What do you do?' while chasing your dream." Because we all will run into that problem one day, the dreaded question that I talked about in Part 1 of this post.

If you're like me (still some kind of student), you can answer "What do you do" or "what's your major" or "what do you want to do" with "I'm a dancer/dance major" and people respond with "Oh, that's so cool! Good for you, I wish I could dance," or something like that. When you get past 25 and are living in a tiny apartment with no heat and 5 other roommates and work 3 jobs, answering "I'm a dancer" is questionable at best.

This is a great article because it does empower you to take hold of your life and answer honestly, but still gives you tips for those situations where honesty isn't the best policy. You do need to be able to answer "I'm a dancer" with pride, but also to know when dance will not be respected as an occupation (and be met with the question "Yes, but what do you actually do?").

In the end, the message is to not be driven up the wall by other people's views and opinions and to do your art for yourself. Dance because you want to and quit because you're done, not because other people want you to or don't like you. You'll thank yourself in the end.