Trust not thy feeling, for whatever it be now, it will quickly be changed. -Thomas à Kempis

There is a fine line between patience and spinelessness. Too often people drop what could be a good thing because they don't have the patience to let it develop. Also too often people stay in a bad situation too long and only create misery for themselves and, at times, others. You can only use your own judgement and the advice of those who are knowledgeable (this may not include your favorite Aunt Suzy).

I recently encountered this dilemma in my internship. Last week sucked. I spent almost the entire week sitting at my desk nearly going crazy over clippings (articles in newspapers, magazines, websites, etc. about the shows we represent. A big part of my job is archiving these). When my dad asked me how the internship was going, which he does often and I love him for, I told him that I was feeling disappointed that I wasn't really seeing anything besides my computer screen. However, I told him that I wouldn't let myself get down on the internship, that it might just be a bad week. (I digress for a moment to tell you that I did have one internship in the past that I withdrew from a month early. I felt that I was being used for free labor rather than actually being taught anything or given any responsibility. That was definitely the right choice then and for that situation.)

Anyway, I am so glad that I didn't allow myself to get sour over one bad week because the past two days, and especially today (!), have been fantastic. In the past 48 hours I have taken pictures that may appear on Playbill.com giving me a photo credit on the epic website that brought me this internship, been to the Jonathan Larson Grant Award Ceremony and seen Kerry Butler (of the original cast of Hairspray which I decided to see instead of going to my Jr. prom) perform among other Broadway titans, been backstage at Hair, had a lovely dinner with several people from my office filled with the lesser known stories of Broadway's legends, and shared a champagne toast with the new cast of Hair. Moreover, I got to know several people in my office better, improving our relationships and opening lines our lines of communication further.

I suppose what I'm trying to tell you is not to let a bad day or week taint what you're doing. Remember why you are doing it and consider whether you are getting near you goal, even if the climb is slow. If you are definitely not and a respectable amount of time has passed and proved that you will not find what you need in the project, don't be afraid to walk away. In that earlier internship, I wasn't getting anything out of it for a month before I left and it was because I was literally getting nothing out of it while they got tons of work out of me. At my current one, I am learning so much, even if there are some lulls! Respect yourself, respect your creativity, respect your time.

Be happy, be brilliant!