I’ve told my story at least a hundred times. I’ve talked about setting my sights on Southern California somewhere around the fifth grade with every intention of living and working in the midst of the industry that I love. To some that’s all it is, an industry. It’s a hobby that I’m pursuing and have been able to make living at for a little while.
At 25, I’ve had more jobs than I can count. I started mowing lawns and working in my fathers hardware store at ten years old. I’ve worked in retail, management, recreation and residence life. I’ve served as an equipment manager for a football program and paddled people through class IV rapids. I’ve hung drywall, gutted houses and operated heavy equipment. Most recently I quite a “corporate job” in pursuit of what many consider a hobby. When I tell them what I do the response is usually “huh.”
People don’t get me and I don’t expect them to. In truth, I can’t explain why the smell of race fuel or the sound of an engine makes me come alive but it does. We all have something inside of us that makes us tick. I believe it’s God given and for each of us it is something different. I know people who excel in sales. My dad claims my brother could sell ice to an Eskimo. He has an uncanny ability to sell something to someone and they leave excited about purchasing something they never knew they needed. That’s his gift.
In my corporate days, I met a gal who gets a rush from crunching numbers and analyzing credit. I tried for 18 months and even with a background in finance, just couldn’t make it stick but it resonates within her.
My question is this; what if we all pursued our passion? What if we explored the little inklings in our life that told us we want to be a police officer, a fireman or a pastry chef? What if all the doodles you drew when you were suppose to be studying algebra meant you had a gift in art or design? Where might you be now if you’d continued on the path you started down before you settle for the next best thing?
How different might your life be if you put your feet on the ground every day to spend your time doing something you absolutely loved? How might your relationship with your wife, your husband or your children be different if you came home from “work” full of life instead of emptied of it?
That decisive point may have come and gone years ago. Life deals each of us different hands and circumstances don’t always allow us to pursue our goals but all too often I meet young people who are on track but give up because “its just not happening.” I hear stories like “I always wanted to go into interior design but I got married and we had kids and never followed through.” “I’d love to spend some time traveling but if I walked away from this job my parents would look down on me.” We begin to trade the pursuit of what we really love for comfort and convenience.
For those that still have that freedom, what’s stopping you? Money? Time? Not knowing where to start? The world is at your fingertips. You have but to Google your topic of choice to find a million other people who are doing or have done that very thing. My journey of following my passion began when I emailed the editor of my favorite magazine. I didn’t think for a minute he would respond, much less invite me to an interview with a publisher, but he did.
“I can’t afford it.” So get a part time job and work your way through school one semester at a time. Start a blog and post your photographs online and keep doing it until someone sees it and puts you to work. Yes it might take a while for things to take shape but why not sacrifice a few years now to spend a lifetime doing what you love? We tire out so easily and when the going gets tough, start looking around for something else and begin to settle for less than what we really want.
If you’re at spot in life that you’re less than satisfied with I’m not suggesting you made poor choices that lead you there. Life throws everyone different circumstances and some are more difficult than others. But what can you do about it?
I spoke to a group of motocrossers the other night about commitment. I asked them where their priorities lie and if the way they spend their time, money and energy is contributing to their end goal? You might be significantly limited by your circumstances, but what can you do? Look around and examine your life for what truly brings you happiness. I’m not referring to any one thing or an object, but what is an activity that really makes you come alive? What is that longing in your heart that for one reason or another you never got to fulfill?
Harold Whitman is quoted as saying “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that. What the world needs is more people who are alive.”
So I ask you, what makes you come alive?
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