From the time you are little, your parents are always encouraging you to find a job that pays a lot (or marry rich in some cases). But they also tell you to do whatever makes you happy.
So what happens when those two contradict? When what you love pays almost nothing?
From day one, I've had passions that would never pay the bills. I started theatre in high school and fell in love. Mind you, you'll never see me onstage: I'm terribly shy and have awful stage fright. Behind the scenes is where I thrive and where my passions lay.
Someday, I want to work on Broadway. I'm leaning towards a talent manager currently, which would allow me to basically help artists manage their careers. The problem? I only get paid a cut of the artist's salary. So if they don't go anywhere, I'm screwed.
Not only does my future career pay very little until someone makes it big, but I also go to a very expensive school and will be under mounds of debt when I get out. That adds even more to the bills I will have to someday pay. Add student loans, the cost of living in NYC, and the cost of just living in general to my measly future salary, and we have a huge problem.
That should bother me, right? Funny enough, it doesn't at all. I've always been the kind of person who believes that being happy means more than anything. We all know the cliche quote, "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life." That's what I strive for. That's 100% what I believe in.
Yeah, paying the bills is important. It's kind of necessary to have somewhere to live, food to eat, and clothes to wear. Yet, I don't want to be stuck in a job I hate because I'm so focused on the money. Theatre is my passion. I want to live and breathe theatre everyday, even if that means I have to live very simply.
I like to think of those of us in this position as the dreamers and the doers. We're the ones who love something so much, we're willing to be dirt poor for it. There's something we have such an immense passion for, we can't just give it up. It's the sparkle in our eye and the one dream we just can't let go. And we're the ones who are going to be the happiest. We're able to look past the money and see what's more important: our own mental well-being.
Maybe it's not realistic. I know it's going to be hard and I'm really going to have to work. Second jobs might have to be taken up just to pay for day-to-day life, but I'm more than willing to do that so I can be happy.
So the next time someone tells you that you need to find something more stable or more practical or, "maybe pharmacy school would be a better path for you," just smile and nod, but don't give up on your passion. Don't let them dull that sparkle in your eye. It's your life and you deserve to be happy, no matter how much money that might produce for you. And who knows? Maybe you'll end up the next billionaire. Don't give up on something just because of money. Dream big, do big, and be happy.
"Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it's business or baseball, or the theater, or any field. If you don't love what you're doing and you can't give it your best, get out of it. Life is too short. You'll be an old man before you know it." - Al Lopez