Three Months Off Is Not Three Months Behind

Three Months Off Is Not Three Months Behind

What the Gap Between Contracts Is Actually For

No contract. No rehearsals. No schedule.
Just you, your training space, and the quiet that feels louder than it should.

For some performers this lasts weeks. For others it stretches to three or six months. And the whole time, it feels like everyone else is working.

You're not alone, there are many people in the same boat as you. 

The gap between contracts is one of the least talked-about parts of a circus career and one of the most normal. Non-linear employment is just how this industry works. The performers who handle it well aren't always the ones who hustle hardest to fill the space. They're the ones who stop treating it like a problem to solve.

Use your time with intention. Train what you never have time for on contract (upgrade or refine a skill). Rest what's been carrying too much load. Take the meeting, write the application, go to the workshop.

You're not behind. You're in a different part of the same career.

💡 Your challenge this week:
Write down three things you could only do well during time off, things a contract schedule makes almost impossible. Then make a plan of how you can achieve each one of them. Once you achieve one move to the next. 

P.S. I've always stayed booked close together so gaps have been short for me. But I've watched friends sit with months of silence and blame the industry, when honestly, the applications weren't going out early enough, their footage wasn't professional enough and the meetings weren't being taken. The gap doesn't close itself.