The Hiatus is Over…

Hello All,

I can’t believe it’s been 3 months since my last post here on Brisbane to Broadway. I’ve been on quite the journey since being back in Australia and it’s time to give a bit of an update.

Firstly, anyone who is thinking of applying for an O1 Visa for America, all I am going to say is, it is going to teach you patience you never thought you were even capable of. The last three months have been a roller coaster of emotions with some of the highest highs and lowest lows. It has felt like every time I had a win three more obstacles would come up and I was back where I started having to make the climb all over again, with the most frustrating thing being that most of the obstacles were completely out of my control.

Before my immigration lawyers were even able to take over and do their job I had to complete my Portfolio which is basically a timeline of my career from start to now and for every job I’ve done I had to provide 6 different points of evidence. This included things like contracts, pay slips, emails, posters, brochures, information on the company, information on the people I worked with at said company, photo’s, screenshots of websites where I’m featured and then press about me and the shows I’ve done. By the time I finished my portfolio, it was a whopping 680 pages. Then I had to send it over to my lawyer in New York. Of course the week I sent it was the week New York got hit with a massive snowstorm and my portfolio got lost in the mail for two weeks and no one could tell me where it was (thankfully I had a full digital copy made but needless to say I was in full-blown panic mode those two weeks). It was finally located and delivered to my Lawyers who I then met with and we began the legal process of making my application for the O1 working visa.

Then the last month and a half I’ve been stuck in a stalemate over part of the application which has involved a lot of back and forth and waking up at 5 and 6am so that I can speak to people in New York because of time differences. This week this was all resolved and I am now finally back on track with my application.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, New York I am still coming for you!!!!! My love and passion for wanting to live and work in this city have been the continual driving force since I arrived back in Australia on the 11^thof January.  It has not been easy and there have been many days where it all felt too much and that I simply just wanted to give it all up. But I have given everything to pursue this dream and I would never forgive myself if I just gave up.

One of the gorgeous girls who I did my Professional Semester at Broadway Dance Center with, the lovely Alex Infranco, started doing a video blog on YouTube throughout the audition season in New York. She has been giving an insight into the real-life ups and downs of pursuing a full-time career as a performer. Her latest post was titled “It’s Not Easy” (here’s the link so you can check it out, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB4e6eHpVOY) and it was such an honest, beautiful and transparent look at the fact that sometimes life doesn’t go the way you want it to and that can be frustrating and upsetting. However, it comes back to trusting that things are happening the way they are meant to and right now you may not be able to see why but all will become clear eventually. That is why hindsight is such a wonderful thing. I saw Alex’s video exactly when I needed it. It was the perfect reminder that yes things with my visa may be taking a lot longer than I want but that everything happens for a reason and I simply have to keep doing what I’m doing, acknowledge the frustration, take a moment and then simply let go and trust the process.

So I encourage all of you out there who may be going through trials whether they be professional or personal to remember that there is a plan and a purpose behind everything that happens and to keep fighting the good fight and climbing that mountain to your dreams and goals because when you get there its going to make all the blood, sweat and tears it so worth it. So my challenge to you all is to continue to live a transparent life, let people see the good the bad and the ugly. We’re all human and its just not natural to hold it all in. If you need to have a good cry put on Marley and Me and have a big old cry (seriously that movie makes me ugly cry every single time). Then pick yourself up and keep going!

I am so happy to get back into my writing and my challenge to myself is to post weekly and I’m trusting all of you to keep me to that! I appreciate all the messages of love and support I receive from near and far and am so excited for the next part of my journey as each day brings me closer and closer to moving back to New York.

Until next week,

Jared xx