Is it worth putting up with misery in order to reach your goal?

Do you love what you are doing enough to endure the pain? The entertainment business is filled with hurtful people. Can you stand it?

Or would you rather do something else in a more congenial atmosphere?

Only you can decide.

Perhaps keep your goal more manageable and more related to improving your acting and singing skills.

Wanting to change ” a certain percentage of humanity” is awfully cosmic and even grandiose.

If you overthink issues and worry constantly, perhaps some talk therapy to sort things out?

Yes it is if you consider your goal worth attaining.

I have always attained my goals by understanding this simple fact about myself. I am not the strongest, smartest, or fastest but I never quit.

Definitely. One of my biggest regrets so far is that I never embraced anything wholeheartedly. Education was the only thing that I saw through to the end.

Definitely should come easy. If you’re having to put forth an effort, drop it. You are entitled to have things just fall into your lap. Hard work and practice is for suckers. What are those hurtful people saying to you? That you need to keep trying? That you’re not perfect the way you are?
Ignore them, what do they know?

Depends. Do you realistically think there will come a day where you feel you’ve truly reached your goal and you can take it down a notch so that you’re not miserable anymore?

I used to kill myself in the name of a long term goal. The stress levels were making me ill and it was a lofty goal I was never going to reach anyway. I finally decided to be more realistic – and more kind to myself.

There is always going to be some level of pain in life, whatever your goals are. Only you can decide if the pain is worth the benefit in each individual situation.

I loved school K-12 and I loved college. Then I went to medical school & was miserable. A thoroughly demoralizing and dehumanizing experience. Thought about quitting several times, but stuck with it (didn’t know what else I could do). Internship was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire, though at least I got paid.

That made for 5 years of misery. Residency in my chosen specialty was a bit better, though still a grind. After that things got much better & I lived happily ever after, more-or-less . So in my experience, a few years of misery are worth it if the payoff is good enough. Besides, you don’t really know what misery is until after you’ve gone through & come out the other side.

Take heart in a Woody Allen quote from Annie Hall (1977):

“I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That’s the two categories. The horrible are like, I don’t know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don’t know how they get through life. It’s amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So you should be thankful that you’re miserable, because that’s very lucky, to be miserable.”

You’re going to have to “deal with bossy and hurtful people” and you’ll “depend on certain individuals” in most life situations. If you’re getting some heart-felt satisfaction out of it too you are ahead of the game.

@minnie19 please give some an example of what you’re thingking by
“like changing a certain percentage of humanity” is to you.” I don’t think it means the same to everyone.

Does the “worry” really help you to achieve your goals in some way? Seriously, I’m trying to decide at this stage in my life if I should learn how to worry. I’ve never really seen the point.

Other than that, what is the “misery” in your life? Really, “misery”?

For all of the reasons stated above the smart thing to say is yes. However, my experience has taught me that life is for living and no matter how much focus and determination you have things still might not turn out the way you hoped. Don’t let your life be all about what’s to come, because you don’t really know what’s to come. Live in the present as much as possible.

Generally speaking nothing of any value comes easy or without pain. Life is painful. If what you are doing causes you pain then that is a sign that you are alive, growing and are on the right track. Those ugly mean people are standing in your way. Tell yourself that you can only see them if you take your eyes off your goal. Keep working as hard as you can and never give up. Never, never, never!

Well, they do say, ‘No pain, no gain.’

If part of changing humanity is want to stop the abusive bosses, then see if one of these sites are helpful. I haven’t read them

This
This

The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. So, you may very well end up working your butt off, before you see your dreams become reality. Only you can be the ultimate choice maker in a situation like this. Really all I can do, all we can do, is confirm the pain and wish you the best.

I think most of the artists don’t just create for nothing. They do want to make people think and feel. They do want to influence people bu reaching them with their imagination.

I went to theatre school. Sometimes it can be a tough place, for reasons unrelated to the art itself.
You can be assured that : every tough situation can be potential fertilizer for your craft (especially acting!!) and also: there is many ways to learn theatre, and you need to know if it’s starting to cripple you rather than help you. Ultimately my litmus test is: is this place helping me be a better human being? To be more open and compassionate to those around me?