I can’t believe it’s already week five for me here in New York City.  I am exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally, but still LOVING every minute.  I came into the first day of orientation for the Broadway Dance Center Professional Semester over-caffeinated in an attempt to sustain an extroverted veneer, hoping for people to meet me and remember me as “Mary Callahan, the California girl, super-friendly, outgoing, confident, and always happy.”  I wouldn’t consider this strive for perfection to be a bad thing, especially in a professional environment where you want to make your best first impression.  However, I’ve discovered that maintaining this extroverted state can be incredibly exhausting.  I am, after all, an INFJ (heavy on the I and J) according to Myers-Briggs.

So, I admit to you all that I am still learning.  I initially stepped up to the front of my dance classes, challenged myself to do more than the required twelve classes per week, woke up energized and excited, and felt anxious butterflies in my stomach at every mock audition and seminar.   But I suddenly feel like a different person, and people have noticed…I shy away to the back of the dance studio and get frustrated over every mistake, I am exhausted even after I sleep for ten hours, I feel sickness and dread during auditions and seminars, and I don’t smile as much (which is what people noticed the most).

We have all heard that it’s important to give 100% (or as my dad says, 110%) in all that we do: sports, academics, relationships, jobs, and so forth.  But I have come to disagree; I do believe that it is important to do your best, but maybe give 95%…and save that 5% for you.

And if you do feel burned out, try not to feel discouraged. Take a day to recuperate.  A walk in Central Park was exactly what I needed to get my head above water and really see the bigger picture – I am good enough, I can do this.