Dress Rehearsal

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

‘Life is not a dress rehearsal’ – my uncle

This is what my uncle said to me at the launch of my first short film that I made in order to get into film school. He shook my hand and said ‘This is not a dress rehearsal’ meaning… do what you love… life is short… you’re never gonna get another chance, so follow your passion before your short time on this planet comes to an end. It all seems a bit morbid but it’s also incredibly good inspiration. Getting reminded of your mortality and that you only get one chance, one life to follow your dreams, so you better get a wriggle on.

Part of me thinks, if we are all just going to die, what’s the point. I may as well just watch movies, read books, play games and do a whole lot of nothing and never challenge myself to do anything outside of my comfort zone. But as I look back on my life, I don’t tend to remember the times that I was comfortable and just hanging out. The things that tend to remain in my memories are achievements I’ve had, things I’ve created, holidays I’ve had, friendships and other physical things that have taken me out of my comfort zone.

So when I’m an old man I want to look back at my life without regrets. I want to have done as many of the things that I wanted to do as possible. Because as my uncle said ‘life is not a dress rehearsal’.