Do what you love. I’ve heard this for many years and it still rings true.
You face many opportunities throughout your life. Sometimes opportunities mean more money or better benefits or lifestyle for you and your family, but the work may not be what you want to do. I read somewhere that a large number of Americans are disenchanted with their jobs, sadly that is where they spend most of their time.
There are many quotations regarding work or career. The one I think of often, “make your vocation your vacation.” This I know, when I am writing stories, blogs or songs, I lose all concept of time.
I read a story in a self-help book about a man who worked a job he hated for years. He dreaded going to work each day and often his disposition was sour.
On weekends he fished, he loved fishing with family and friends. He was an extraordinary fisherman, and when he was fishing, he was in heaven.
One day he went to work and his boss met him at the door, telling him he longer had a job. He was crushed. He looked around for a long time for a job but was unsuccessful. One day out of the blue, a local businessman call to say that he had some clients from out of town who wanted to go fishing. He asked if the unemployed man would be interested in being a guide for a day. The unemployed angler jumped at the chance.
He soon realized that he could actually make a living fishing, and things blossomed for him. He ran ads in fishing magazines, passed our business cards and soon his guide business was booming. He’s doing what he loves now, making more money than before and is much happier.
The reasons most continue to do work they hate are many. Some stay because of the security of a regular paycheck, some work jobs because it’s what their parents wanted them to do and some know of nothing that they love, so they settle. And life happens, and family and responsibilities pull them away from their dreams.
Here’s what I have learned, even if you work a day job that you hate, spend some time each day or week doing what you love. Possibilities will open, skills will be built, contacts will be made and soon the opportunity of doing something you love will become a reality. For me, it took years and much hard work but eventually I was forced into early retirement and the writing I had worked on for years paid off and I found opportunities to do what I loved.
Jilda and I wrote a song years ago, “ Do What You Love.” I think the writing of that song reminded us daily to pursue our dreams while we worked at jobs to make a living.
Here is a verse and chorus:
Do you ever get the feeling life is passing you by? Do you ever ask the question, what’s wrong with my life?
Do you dread Monday mornings? Is your job killing you? Then you don’t do what you love, or love what you do.
‘Cause when you do what you love, and love what you do,
All of your dreams can come true
If you started right now, it would not be too soon
To do what you love and love what you do.
Don’t settle; don’t dread going to work the rest of your life. Do what it takes, to do what you love.
