I have always been lucky in having a general sense of what I should be doing with my life. I can say that it was my decision to move to Los Angeles, but I could literally feel the universe pulling me to the west coast come May 2009. And as many times as I have been homesick and have considered the move back to Dallas or even Austin, I have lost sleep over it. I know this is where I am supposed to be at this time in my life.
Moving to LA has been interesting. Everyone judges you. When I was doing background work to make some extra money, I remember a friend telling me her friend inquired if “Kirbie was trying to be an actress now,” having little-to-no idea about what I wanted to do with my life. When I was eight, I wanted to be Julia Roberts. I wanted to be an actress. Hence why I wanted to move to Los Angeles, and why I got involved in theater in middle and high school. However, I realized that I like other things better, like journalism.
I’m going to be the next Oprah. That is a fact. That sound a little Rachel Berry of me, but you have to go all out to make things happen, right? I have a 10-year-plan to make it happen and currently I’m in phase two. I moved out here (phase one) and now I have a brand new job at a global PR firm (phase two)! I know what I need to do to get to my Oprah point, but I know it’s going to take time, patience and hard work. It’s not like I’m going to walk down the street one day and someone is going to say, “You look like you need your own TV show!” and hand it over to me. It doesn’t work like that.
So, now that I’ve gotten my goals straightened out (have a TV show, start my own production company, get big enough to move the production to Dallas, support charitable causes, start my own magazine, write a book, share my message with a global audience), I know that I’m probably not going to get to this point the way I always thought I would, and that’s okay. I’m excited because I have no idea what I’ll be doing to get there, but I know that it’s going to happen and I’m feeling very content. Even if it doesn’t work out, at least I know I’ll have tried. I’m attending a few hosting intensive workshops once I get my new work schedule (that gives me actual weekends off!) and I’m going to keep writing and promoting this blog in hopes that it will help complement my career goals.
I hope everyone finds their calling and feels compelled to go after it too! Life is too short to waste.
Kirbie Johnson 