The harsh realities of tour life

It’s been one of those days. One of those less-than-awesome days where I come back to my hotel room and really need a glass of wine. One of THOSE days.

In light of this – I’ve begun thinking about the past month (and a bit) that I’ve been on tour and some of the myths I believed before I hit the road. There are a lot of myths about this lifestyle. This “I travel the country dancing in giant mascot costumes for the entertainment of small children” lifestyle. So, I decided to dedicate a post to dissolving these myths.

Myth #1 – You get ripped because you’re essentially doing hot yoga onstage every day.
The Truth – While you are doing between 1 and 2 hours of exercise a day in a giant, ridiculously hot costume…it’s only cardio. And it’s not constant. It is a workout to a degree and you have to be in decent physical shape to do it – but you don’t lose weight. If anything, I’ve been losing muscle as we rarely have gyms in our hotels with free weights so I’ve completely been slacking in terms of resistance training. My muscle is now turning to fat. Consequently – I feel like I’ve gained weight.

Myth #2 – Your skin will get better because you’re sweating out all your toxins every day.
The Truth – Yes, you sweat…a lot…and while your face does sweat a ton in your head every show, it’s all recycled air in there. You’re essentially in a hot, sweaty chamber of your own heat. There’s not a lot of fresh air flow. So it doesn’t feel very healthy…plus, you sweat everywhere else too and commonly break out or get rashes in places you’ve never had problems with before because of your costume rubbing, bacteria etc…it’s not very glamorous.

Myth #3 – You can eat super healthy because you only have to worry about feeding yourself!
The Truth – Ok…I made this one up just so I could share the truth about eating on the road. It’s HARD. Hard to eat properly, at least. You never know if you’re going to have a fridge and/or microwave in your hotel room so it’s hard to buy groceries (to avoid eating out so much). Your digestion also suffers because your diet is all over the place and you have no normal eating habits. I’ve learned to always keep a few essentials handy though – I have a lot of protein bars, canned tuna and beef jerky (for quick protein), bananas & peanut butter (no need to refrigerate) and an assortment of nuts and rice chips (for snacking).

Myth #4 – Living in hotels is AWESOME!
The Truth – While it certainly is nice to have a fresh, clean bed and room every night, it does make me miss my own bed. It’s also not a ton of fun to be living out of a suitcase. You never know if or when you can do your laundry at a hotel and I’ve grown to hate re-packing my suitcase whenever we leave a city…but I have learned a lot of tips and tricks about hotels. I feel like I could write a book on the pros and cons between Comfort Inns, Best Westerns (and Best Western Pluses), Super 8s, Sheratons, Holiday Inns etc…so, that is a bonus!

Myth #5 – You will never want to have children.
The Truth – While this is a common thought when one gets into children’s theatre…I am happy to say that I still cannot wait to have kids one day. The kids are honestly what make this job so amazing. Just seeing them all up against the stage, calling out your name, mimicking your movements…it’s priceless. It never gets old. And the idea that you may be part of their very first theatrical experience is pretty special too.

At the end of the day though…aside from all my complaints…this truly is one of the best experiences of my entire life and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I am so incredibly grateful every day that this is my job and I’m able to see and explore so much of our beautiful country. I’m so lucky and so happy to be doing what I’m doing.