Originally Posted by
msommers
I can certainly appreciate your viewpoint on it and will backtrack a bit by calling you fellow hosers downers -- pessismistic would have been more accurate. Not every passion/hobby/interest is going to translate well into a career. For example, I love photography but more often than not I just enjoy taking pictures for me, not for someone else. So I get where you're coming from.
That said, I strongly feel there is an element of passion that most don't actually follow through on, lose drive/momentum/persistence and that is more often than not the reason(s) 'follow your passion' ends up failing. The Arts in particular as a career is like that, whether it be architecture, photography, modelling, acting, music.... There are years of grinding or a one-in-a-million chance to be successful. Then again, there is a lot of luck involved in any career whether one wants to admit it or not. Please don't interpret that as luck is everything.
If you're passionate about something, have a game-plan on how to realize that idea, be persistent and open to change, my opinion is that the money will come and you can be successful. What is success is so different among us all, and obviously not ever worrying about paying bills is likely a part of that.
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I've been laid off for 5.5 months now with dwindling optimism and what feels like never-ending soul searching and finding purpose -- I mean Christ I'm turning 35 this year and feel utterly lost. So taking my own advice of 'follow your passion, be persistent and work hard' is challenging because I don't actually know what that is. Like so many things, it's easier said than done.
Cheers.