Starving artists are romanticized.
The phrase, “if you do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,” is used to ‘advise’ graduates or those teetering on the cusp of life change.
Have you experienced life?
About the time you think you have anything figured out, the rug gets pulled out from under you.
It’s going to put you down.
Not a one of us will make it out alive.
And if you have ever tried to bring anything to life, be it a human or an idea, work is a four-letter word…and that’s *(insert expletive), what it takes.
People are resilient.
If we keep our head down, and push through, we can get a lot of things done.
Things we probably don’t even like.
You can do them for stability, and you can do them for money.
Sunshine and rainbows are a red flag for me.
For every high, there is a crushing low.
What it comes down to is whether or not you can afford not to struggle.
Are you toeing the fray?
Are you pretending?
Like anything in life that you know you need to do and are working up the courage for; you get the clammy hands, the lump in your throat, and you just want to scream, but your body’s erg for self-preservation is fighting your every thought.
Whether it works out or not in the end, often, isn’t decided by whether you are showered with praise and accolades.
It’s decided by whether or not you take that leap of faith.
Those decisions aren’t made at podiums in lecture halls.
They are made alone, with a gamblers blind hope and the faith that you have the tenacity to see it through.
Can you live, any lifestyle, by not feeling the breath of accomplishment that comes after finishing your craft?
Can you afford, not to be creative?
Whatever your answer.
The only thing left…is to do.