So a couple weekends ago, fueled by my desire for happiness, I went to go see one of my inspirations on stage. His name is Steve Turre and if you are into music period, I suggest you check him out. Saturday night he was playing at Bohemian Caverns and it was as if the stars had aligned. I just so happened to be in NoVA that day and could not pass this up. Now that I have more free time on my hands I am making the most of this opportunity by truly finding myself and figuring out why I was put on this planet. As I sat there for over an hour listening to his quintet play there were some observations that helped me fine tune my goal. For those of you whole know me know I tamper in both music and computers, but figuring out which one I should pursue and commit to 100% has continued to be a source of frustration for me.
As I sat there I realized that everyone on that stage was over the age of 50. But more importantly I saw that everyone of those people on stage were in love with what they were doing. Most people I know around that age are simply waiting for retirement, and these guys showed no signs of slowing down. Now I know these guys are not making a ton of money, but that sure doesn't seem to affect them. How many people can say that they love what they do for a living? Now don't get me wrong, money sure does help, but should it trump a chance in doing what you love? This has been part of the battle that I have fought internally for years. It's interesting, when you grow up everyone encourages you by telling you "You can be whatever you want to be" in life, but they never quite tell you how to figure that out or that what you want to be in your life may conflict with what society sets as standards for a happy life. I am interested to know other peoples opinions on this, so please don't hesitate to comment.
I agree with what you are saying. We have all heard that saying "You can be whatever you want to be", but telling you how is not easy or straight forward. Just like you I struggle with these thoughts, but you at least have two directions or another way to pursue your happiness. I on the other hand only know computers and I'm losing interest and I'm not happy with where I am in life. Unfortunately information technology is all I know. I don't have a backup plan, so I'm trying to move ahead in my career, but still thinking of what else I could do to make money of course, but to be happy.
ReplyDeleteI think you pose an interesting question. I think its a blessing that our generation has so many options, one can easily become confused. Ecspecially when you add financial responsibilities, fear of failure, and all of that. I am in the same spot, but I say go with passion...
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