Doing what you love and living the dream are noble pursuits, and kudos to those who manage to achieve such things. It can be a bit ‘grass is always greener’ though, especially if you still work for some other c*nt, and have to be at a certain place at a certain time, and can’t leave until a certain time… Doesn’t matter what you’re doing, it all begins to feel like work after a while.
The other issue with doing what you love for a living, is that you might find that it disminishes the love you have for the particular thing.
I’ve chased (and fallen painfully short) on two big dreams in my life that sadly are now pretty much dead to me. I got burnt out by them, and now I just cannot derive enjoyment from them, no matter how much I try to.
But after spending my teenage years, and then my twenties chasing dreams, I’ve spent my thirties doing then exact opposite; I work night shift in a factory. I clock on, I work, I clock off, I go home, and every minute I’m there they pay me. I don’t go home and lose sleep over what’s my next career move, I don’t stress about bosses / customers, I don’t even think about the place again until I clock on, I don’t have to sit through meetings, I drive 6 minutes to work in zero traffic, I earn more than I ever have… It has its perks, and I’m probably happier emotionally now, than when I was doing really enjoyable work for minimal results back in my twenties. Now, I should state that the whole reason I made this change was because I met a girl, we got married, bought a house and had a baby, so money suddenly became a real factor.
But I still pursue somewhat of a writing dream on the side, and despite watching my spare time quickly disappear with parenting duties, I still manage to find time to do it, even if I did have to cut one avenue out. And best of all, I still enjoy it.
TLDR: There is no shame in just earning a living because circumstances dictate it, but it doesn’t mean you can’t also still do what you love in your spare time. You might even enjoy it more that way.
