Do What You Love
Life’s too short, so do what you love. I’m sure you’ve heard this line before. And while the sentiment may sound cliché, its essence rings true. The challenge lies in transforming this advice from mere words into tangible action. Many individuals find themselves trapped in jobs they hate, and you’ve likely encountered similar stories.
But here’s the flip side: there are so many folks out there who not only enjoy what they do but are also killing it in terms of success. It’s not just about making a living; it’s about doing what you love, turning that joy into income, and continuing to make the effort to achieve what you want most out of life.
In terms of making a living, this typically refers to the amount of money or assets you have coming in to support yourself. This is so you can afford the basics of living such as food, water, and shelter. For most people, this is through means of working a particular job. You may not enjoy what you do, but you are able to make ends meet.
In contrast, making a life reflects your general lifestyle and life experiences. Contrary to making a living, making a life encompasses a lot more than just your finances. Are you meeting your potential? Are you excited about your hobbies, job, and life purpose? Are you actively doing what you love every day?
Creating a life that combines both your needs and desires for fulfillment will give you some kind of direction to follow. This overlap of the two will act as a sort of roadmap so you can start living life on your terms. You want to create a life where you can do what you love while simultaneously making a living.
Making a Living Leads to Materialism
Growing up, you are often taught to optimize your time for productivity. Society encourages you to choose a career that promises lucrative earnings and an affluent lifestyle. Your parents may nurture it. Most of your teachers will enlighten you on it. And society encourages it.
You aren’t doing what you love? You’ll get over it eventually. Just wait and see the material wealth you’re going to collect over the years!
After all, if you don’t go to college for some big-shot profession such as a lawyer or a doctor, how will you ever be able to afford that new Ferrari? What about that four-bedroom home with an ocean view on the West Coast?
Mainstream media advertises this materialism to the point that it becomes a sickening disease. Buy this new car and girls will be swooning all over you. If you sport this fashion brand you will never be lonely again. Purchase this $10,000 handbag and people will finally respect you.
It may not be overtly stated like that, but the subliminal message still hits its mark. People start to become captivated with the latest and greatest popular trends. They are willing to do anything to slide themselves into the mix. Whether it be taking up a raise that requires 20 more working hours per week.
Putting off that round-the-world trip you had planned in your youth. Abandoning your passions and hobbies because you don’t have enough time to focus on them. The list goes on and on.
The sacrifices humans make to accommodate this materialistic frenzy are maddening. You give up pieces of yourself because you feel like a little more stuff will fill that empty void. Dreams get left out to die. Relationships suffer because work takes precedence. And precious memories are missed out on due to late nights at the office.
This obsession with materialism and wealth can dictate the course of your entire life. Consequently, you get stuck in a holding pattern and feel helpless in breaking free. You no longer enjoy what you do and depression sets in.
What do most usually do to numb this pain? They carry on and buy a little more distraction.
We Sacrifice Passion For Image
People will take up a promotion that’s physically and mentally taxing them to death just to afford that dream home they thought would bring them such delight. They’ll go into tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt to show off their expensive toys to their peers.
Hell, some of them even get romantically involved with a much older, wealthier individual. Some do this just to acquire life’s finer delicacies that they feel they couldn’t obtain if they hadn’t otherwise offered up sexual favors in return.
Anyways, you get the picture I’m painting right? Materialism and opulence have such a hold over many in the Western World. Most are willing to sacrifice an important part of themselves just to attain it. Whether that sacrifice be morals, integrity, passion, or happiness.
You want to look good and keep up with the Joneses. Acceptance into the community is a driving force. And most of that stems from the innate desire to impress and the longing for approval. The “do what you love” mantra no longer holds the same weight as it did when you were a kid.
As you grow up, the consumerism narrative influences your impressionable mind. The media hypes up this image so well and you want to be in the club. I get it.
You want a nice house and a shiny new car, and you want to be able to travel to Europe every summer. You long for fancy dinners every night at Five Star Restaurants, but how can you achieve this? Doing what you love seems like a foreign concept when it comes to success in the financial world.
Unfortunately, modern society’s definition of success largely revolves around the concepts of money, fame, and power. Many are trapped in the mindset of making a living for survival. You work hard to make a healthy salary so that you appear to be successful.
In turn, you can afford a nice house, a new car, ect. And as a result, society perceives you to be a prosperous little worker bee. But do you enjoy what you do? Is the sacrifice worth the payoff? Are you happy with the life you are living?
Do What You Love Make Money!
The words happiness, fulfillment, passion, and joy do not appear to be tied to the concept of making a living. As long as you’re earning a nice six or seven-figure salary, most people would accredit you with having “made it” in the modern age.
If you hate your job, but you’re making a lot of money, everything should be fine and dandy. After all, money can buy happiness, right?
I mean sure, amassing a large fortune makes living a hell of a lot easier. But that’s beside the point I’m trying to make here. Something much more important is lost if riches are your only goal.
If money becomes your sole focus and the reason you get up in the morning – if it is the impetus for why you have the career or job you do right now, you have lost the spark of what life is all about. Money is just a tool, and it should be treated as such.
That being said, if fortune becomes a byproduct of a project or endeavor you are working towards that you are excited about, then that is the optimal scenario you want to aim for. You want to utilize money as a segue to achieve the kind of lifestyle you desire.
If you treat money as a tool, you will never find yourself trapped in the wheel society perpetuates for so many. Your definition of success should be predicated on the foundation of purpose and passion rather than money and riches alone. There is a reason people tell you to do what you love.
If you are doing what you love, if you actually enjoy what you do, then your work becomes a positive force for good. When you find complete joy in what you do, you can contribute much more value and offer more to society than you would sitting behind a desk job that you hate.
Doing What You Love Creates Abundance
And oftentimes, because of the great value you are offering, money flourishes in more ways than it had before. In contrast, if you are carrying out a job you dislike, work then becomes a burden and a source of negativity.
You can never contribute everything you have to offer this world if you don’t love what you do. And you will always feel some kind of dread before clocking into work.
Work is obviously needed to live. But it should not be the sole modus operandi for how you conduct your everyday living. If you’re working 18 hours a day and come home exhausted because you hate your job, but “Oh hey, look at this nice house I’ve got, this brand new BMW, I’m making a nice six-figure salary. What exactly should I be complaining about?”
Sure, you can go about your life working for the man. You can even fuel your material vices to the point of numbing your pain. But it still doesn’t change the fact that your life will feel empty and meaningless. Life’s too short for that.
Work is essential as it brings us a sense of fulfillment, satisfaction, and growth in our lives. And it should not be seen in a negative light either. It is very possible to establish a career by doing what you love, but it just takes some creativity on your part.
Separating Your Identity From Your Job
When your job becomes a tedious chore that you “have to do” and not something you “get to do”, you have crossed over that ine from living to just merely existing – from choosing your destiny to accepting your fate. When you start to associate your self-worth and identity with your occupation, work then becomes a toxic thing to your happiness.
If someone asks you “Who are you?” Your first response should not be “I’m an insert occupation here.” You are a human being damn it. Not some corporate suit and tie. Get your definitions straight.
Your priority should be on how you can create a lifestyle you are truly happy living. You see, there has to be a healthy balance between the work you immerse yourself in and the lifestyle you build up for yourself. In simpler terms, your work should derive from a place of purpose.
It should facilitate the lifestyle that you find worth living. Don’t get me wrong here. It is hard work to break away from the patterns that society lays down for us. But I believe it is worth the struggle.
Separating yourself from the expectations and perspectives of others, especially your friends and family, will be a difficult thing to confront at first. It’s hard to step out and be courageous and not to worry about what others think.
Following your dreams and finding work that fulfills you and makes you happy is no minor feat. Many people default back to the path that society lays out for them.
It is easier to just get by in life making a living and cashing in that steady paycheck each week. But it eventually comes full circle to paying the monthly expenses. There are plenty of people who go through the motions of this and find themselves complacent in doing so.
But I’m sure if you ask most if they are happy with that life, they will likely question themselves. Could there be something more to living than the mediocrity that they have surrendered themselves to? You shouldn’t just be working to pay bills and make it to the next pay period. What an insignificant way to spend your time. Don’t you want to go out and see the world?
Life’s Too Short to Settle
It’s never too late in life to start over on a different career path. Maybe you’ll take a pay cut. You might lose the insurance premiums. Or God forbid, you may have to settle for a less expensive car. But life’s too short to spend all of your precious time filling the deep pockets of some corporate entity that doesn’t give two shits about you.
Remember: you are replaceable to them. Read that again. Corporations won’t think twice before putting out a job offer the second you turn in your two-week notice.
Whether you’ve been there for two years or twenty, the only priority to them is filling the vacancy and getting the profits back on track. If that doesn’t motivate you to start doing what you love in life, I don’t know what will. The only one who is going to care about your quality of lifestyle as much as you is you.
It’s up to you to make a change and start creating the life you want to live. No one else is going to do it for you. There are no rescue teams on the way to save you. The responsibility and challenges to making it happen rest on your shoulders alone.
Take stock of your situation and ask yourself if you could do without some of the creature comforts you’ve grown so accustomed to. In order to live a happier and more fulfilling lifestyle, it’s often worth forgoing.
Passion needs to be prioritized over your paycheck. And when you find that sweet spot in combining the two, you will be well on your way.
People all over the world have created wonderful lives that they are proud of starting exactly where you are right now.
They’ve created beautiful lives revolving around passion. So why can’t you be one of them? Life is more than just accepting mediocrity. It’s all about accepting responsibility for your situation.
You deserve more. Everyone is entitled to live a life of joy and happiness. The economics of earning money is important to have in our lives. However, it is possible to combine the two seemingly opposing forces. You can make a living while creating a life that you are happy with.
Finding the grey area and overlap between the two is what you want to aim for. That’s true living right there and not just existing. Go out there and do what you love. Be bold, be courageous, and join the living. We’re all waiting for you and your gifts.
