6. Dating
The lifestyle you have chosen, whether in show business (e.g. entertainer, singer) or in any profession – like business or athletics – requires a great deal of personal discipline and fortitude.
Life is full of making decisions, setting goals and sacrificing in order to reach those goals. A successful career takes total commitment.
Show business is a very competitive business. It is also very exciting, – a world of its own with unique ethics and laws. It can involve a life of camaraderie and caring, or one of back-stabbing and survival.
It takes a special type of person to fit into the mainstream of show business. You must be able to share your talents as well as you life – both public and private – with your audience. You must be willing to establish an image and then hold onto it. You must be willing to set trends, change lifestyle, take criticism and be called “different.”
While training for and developing your career, you should not become involved in any situation or relationship that would distract you from your main goals.
Dating and relationships are some of the most common situations that lead to failure rather than success. Most of us date or even get married for the wrong reasons.
After a meeting with some young adults, I found that some of the “reasons” given for dating fall into one of the following three categories: Sex, status or manipulation (mojos). Here are some examples:
SEX:
- “Teach me how.”
- Mistaken for “love.”
- “Will you love me in the morning? Will you still respect me?”
- A “reputation to protect”.
- “Experience something new.”
- “Everybody does it.”
- “To prove you are not strange.”
- Physical attraction.
These are a few mentioned by young people as “reasons” to get involved with sex. These can result in:
- Unwanted pregnancies
- Abortion
- Unwanted babies (abuse, other problems)
- Controls, mojos
- Loss of self-esteem
- Divorce – split up home
STATUS:
- Popular to date.
- Being seen with a popular person
- Date society person, money, prestige
- Reputation to live up to
- Image of playboy or playgirl
- Tradition
These can result in:
- Ego, trying to live up to a falsehood.
- Not being really you.
- Unhappiness.
- Looking in the wrong places for the right thing.
- Divorce – hurt, confused children.
MANIPULATION (MOJOS):
- Someone who will listen and comfort you.
- Money or using someone.
- Don’t want to be alone.
- Someone to share, – a companion.
- Someone special.These can result in:
- Control
- Blaming, finding faults.
- Selfish attitude.
- Divorce, bitterness.
Real love involves working at a relationship: giving and taking, sacrifice and sharing 100 percent.
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