Alexander Hamilton, as portrayed in Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical masterpiece, was a classic workaholic. Ambitious and driven to rise above his station at all costs. He worked hard, was focussed on his goals, and accomplished so much. Against the odds.
The man is non-stop
Hamilton the musical was pretty much the soundtrack to my family’s lockdown. And I’ve often thought about the man’s work ethic in the context of my blog.
His approach to work/life choices, summed up in the number ‘Take a Break’, relates to those described by other “workaholics” that I’ve written about; choosing work over other almost all other aspects of life. (For those unfamiliar with the show, I’m not giving anything away by telling you that he basically doesn’t take a break…).
I thought of that today as I had the pleasure and privilege of watching the stage musical live for the first time.
Watching the talented performers at the top of their game, in their element on stage, I couldn’t help but imagine the work ethic it must take to reach this scale of success, and to bring such an incredible level of energy to each performance, day in day out.
What must their lockdown have been like, with theatres shut for months on end?
The novelty of being back in an audience still hasn’t worn off, and sitting in a packed theatre, knowing the part that the vaccination programme had in making that possible, with all else that’s going on in the world right now, makes me feel immensely grateful, proud and emotional.