A Libra's Advice on Balance

My name is Paige and I'm in my second year at the University of Toronto, doing a double major in drama studies and cinema studies. In my spare time, I'm an intern at Theatre 20. In my spare spare time, I work an exhausting retail job selling handbags. In my spare spare spare time, I'm a member of the Paprika. To say that I am busy is an understatement. I'm a Libra, so my life is all about balance.

How to I balance all my jobs and commitments? To be honest, I have no idea. My life is scheduled to the letter. I would probably die without my calendar. Sometimes it means I have days where I go to Theatre 20 in the morning, class in the afternoon, a Paprika event in the evening and work at night. Sometimes it means I sleep in class so I can be ready for work at night and T20 the next morning. Sometimes it means that due to lack of sleep I stay up until three in the morning crying over Miss Saigon (let's be real - it happens to the best of us). Sometimes it means the blog post I said I would write two weeks ago comes in super, super late (mea culpa)! It sounds exhausting, and it is. But I wouldn't change it for the world.

Because I got my internship and my retail job this summer, I was positive that I wouldn't be able to commit to Paprika this year. It takes up the better part of a year, which I knew having gone through the festival over the last two years, both in the Creator's Unit and the Resident Company. I was so delighted that the Advisory Board has been created this year so that with a smaller time commitment I am still able to participate in the festival.
It's been so much fun being on the Advisory Board. For some members, it is their first time being involved in the festival and they have so many cool ideas and opinions. For others, like me, it is our third or fourth year, and we know what makes Paprika run. There's no cooler feeling than being in a room with people who are as passionate about young artists as I am. It's completely awesome.

It's hard at times to juggle my many commitments but at the end of the day I'm doing what I love and that's what fuels me. I love being a student, I love being an intern, I love being an Advisory Board member. The fact that I even get to have so many wonderful commitments really is just the best. So when I feel tired, or I want to pass out on the floor of the library I just remember that I get to live one of the luckiest lives out there.