Following Your Passions
NAME: Lily
STATUS: Teaching my mom about Twitter
PEEVE: People who get everything they want, when they want it
GLEE: Matinee movie pricing
There’s a popular saying among career-in-betweeners these days: Do what you love, and the money will follow.
That’s all very well and good, if what you love is, say, investment banking. Or if you have a trust fund that allows you to start up your very own mobile cat-grooming business.
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But what if what you love is something you happen to be terrible at, or something everyone loves, or something that’s either fiscally or physically impossible? I suppose the idea is to put your passions first, or to do your very best at whatever you do. However, I have always found such pronouncements a bad fit for the real world. Yes, I would love to have my own karaoke bar/vintage lunchbox shop, but somehow I don’t see that vision gelling into a viable means of making a living. Sure, I’d be thrilled to be a ballerina – but it’s a little late to be strapping on some pointe shoes.
Did You know?"It is never to late to become what you might have been." -George Elliot
"Change yourself and fortune will change with you." -Portugese Proverb
"Practice yourself in little things, and thence proceed to greater." -Epictetus
Certainly, I’m good at some things – I’m a great listener, and all my friends say I give great advice. But no, I do not want to be a psychologist. My dad says I could sell feathers to birds, and he thinks I’d be a natural at real estate, but that hasn’t been turning out too well for anyone who doesn’t already have their own TV show. My mom, who loves all those cake and cupcake shows, thinks I bake great cookies; maybe I do, but that doesn’t mean I can just turn around and open my own bakery. TV and movies make it look so easy, so pat.
I have a friend who’s a genius with nail art, as in painting tiny and clever masterpieces on someone’s fingernails. She started to think she might be able to make a go of it, and she quit her job with her hubby’s support and went to school to earn her nail tech certificate. Then she went out into the world with big dreams and aspirations – and what she ended up with was a job where she barely breaks even after renting space in a salon and buying her own equipment. She’s even been posting her nail art tutorial videos on YouTube, trying to build up a little following. And while she’s getting fans, she isn’t making a dime off that. She’s trying to put on a brave face, but she confided to me that she’s just ashamed to admit defeat at this point. She did the thing everyone says to do; she followed her passion. Only now, instead of being happy and raking in the Benjamins, she resents having to paint other people’s design ideas all day and secretly wishes she could get her old job back.
I don’t want to end up like that. I don’t want to stay where I am, either. There’s got to be some middle ground between well-meaning poetic adages and sucking it up for a career in corporate America.
Q: How do I find my passion?
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