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When your passion becomes your bread and butter

January 6, 2016

Being able to do what we love is a liberty most of us don’t enjoy easily. People are stuck in mundane jobs to pay their bills, pay-off their loans, to support their family, for a luxurious life or sometimes just because they have given up listening to their heart.

I have heard people say that when your passion becomes your work, life is bliss, since you enjoy every moment of it. Work then, is not a task to be completed. It becomes yet another venture into your inner self to explore a new path.

It sounds very lovely and dreamy, but there is something I’d like to understand. Whilst I’m all game for this idea, there are some things that make me wonder. Doing something for personal gratification and then something as a professional commitment, are two different things. Do they coincide happily?

For example, let’s say that music is my passion, my reason for living. To be able to create music gives me immense joy and pleasure. I feel at home with my instruments, my songs, my tunes. My mind is always forming, approving and rejecting compositions.

When I compose for others though, there are certain barriers. There are briefs to be followed and instructions to be carried out. There are bound to be disagreements where I didn’t expect any. My best tune till date, as I feel, may get dismissed or not find any takers.

How does one handle this? It is known that creative people are more sensitive and vulnerable than common folk. They are deeply connected with their inner selves and are far more emotional. Does this kind of spurn not affect them or their passion?

There are authors who started writing as a hobby but short-changed their writing passion for commercial gain. Needless to say, the quality of their work suffered. Does it mean that this passion-profession combination doesn’t always work? Is there something to learn something from this?

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23 thoughts on “When your passion becomes your bread and butter”

  2. I am going to write something about this topic soon enough.. .maybe I will attend to the final question you have asked… This post is nicely written and I am happy to have read that you are following your heart 🙂

  5. Last year, MJ asked me to help her bake a dozen cakes for a party she was hosting .. It took about roughly 2 days but by the end of it I was tired.. Making and baking .. Because it was an order and I had and I couldn’t do my quirks like I usually do. It was strange because baking cakes is one of my happiest moments! Need a lot of patience .. Passion to profession is not that easy..

    1. Exactly! When you do something for your own sake it takes the edge off. You’re enjoying it and it doesn’t matter if that reflects your best. In all probability…it will!
      Doing something you love with boundaries and restrictions may or may not work. In my opinion, it doesn’t. Glad you agree with me.

      1. Recently a friend of mine made some cute baby clothes and accessories for her neice’s baptism. The rest of us in the group told her she shd start it as a business and she even got a first order from the group from soon to be mommy friend.. But she said the same thing.. The love and affections with which she made these for her brother’s kid may not reflect in other random orders ..! But I guess that is where professionalism steps in when we want our business to run.. Like we follow a recipe and make it the exact same way every time ..

        1. The love part is a bit difficult to replicate. After all there are people who do make it work. Guess it requires certain discipline and the ability to differentiate between personal and professional.

  8. Well, not always true Varsha. There are well reputed authors who write as sequel to their previous successes and not necessarily the quality succumb to compensate the demand. Though I agree at times we have to work around to bring in a balance in both. But, there is nothing as lovely as gaining a livelihood from your passion. My Two Cents.

  11. I think when we work for others we have to certain kinds of rules of regulations whether we are following our passion too. But earning and gain respect through your passion is quite satisfactory. Nice post Varsh.

  12. Making your passion in to monetary stuff is a huge task and sometimes people around us start questioning our passion and compare with money one gets in return. In case of Blogging too, many of my relatives pop a question do you earn enough, then I have to reply that my heart is content enough to make me happy.

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