Do What You Love...Maybe?

It seems like every day I click a post or article that tells me to do what I love and I’ll never work a day in my life. Well, I’m calling BS on that trope. Why you might ask? Because it sets up some false criteria about regular people and their regular lives. If we all just “did what we love” then we might find that we lived in a very unproductive society. Think about it, people meandering all day thinking about eating cheesecake, while waiting in line to eat cheesecake, I mean if 1 billion only wanted to eat cheesecake for a living, then who would actually be making the ideal, life-affirming cheesecake? If everyone only wanted to play video games all day or sew aprons to be doing what they love, then who would design the video games, and who would buy the aprons?

You see that’s the conundrum nobody really talks about. People just post life-affirming MeMe’s and then we’re left to feel a little less than because we work a 9-5 in a cubicle making enough to pay bills, buy food and maybe take a one or two week vacation every year; but not really doing what we love.

Somewhere along the way, making a living and taking care of our families became not good enough, because surely there is no way slaving away at that office job is something you’re passionate about, right? Social media says it’s not, so suddenly just being an adult isn’t good enough, you have to do that and also figure out how to create a sustainable income “doing what you love.” MLM marketers are the worst about this type of rhetoric. “Quit the 9-5,” “give up the office life for the good life” “make millions on vacation every day.” For the few that is working for good for them, seriously I wish we were all that fortunate, but if everyone was selling downlines to make a living, there would be nobody to actually purchase the $47.00 tube of lipstick that is allowing you to "follow your dreams while doing what you love.”

Now, don’t start pointing your finger at me as you read this blog that I’ve written, because yes, I do love to write, and as you can tell by the website I also love music and being a musician. If you dig a little on me you will find that I work as a musician and as a writer, 2 things that I love, but… I also have a 9-5 that I might not love, but I certainly don’t hate, and without it wouldn’t even have the means to consider doing anything that I actually do love to do.

In a magic Universe we could all do what we love and make an actual living from it, but the Universe doesn’t work that way, sometimes to get to do what we love, we have to do what we hate, and that’s just the ying/yang balance of the Universe. Yes, there are those fortunate enough to only do what they truly enjoy for a living every day, and good for them. I don’t feel less because they are, I just feel like my time hasn’t come yet, or maybe that’s not my journey. Perhaps, to keep me grounded I need my 9-5 as well as being a musician and writer. These are answers we aren’t really meant to know the answer too and shouldn’t get frustrated when things just don’t seem to go as scheduled or desired.

So, don’t let MeMe’s and inspirational quotes make you feel like working a regular job means you aren’t being true to yourself because you aren’t only doing what you would love to do. But also, don’t lose yourself in the idea that doing what you love makes you a dreamer and unproductive. As with all things in life, there must be a balance, and with love, there must be hate. So instead of killing yourself trying to achieve it all, just seek the balance and you will fall in love with who you are, not what you do.