Dreams and Success
I've been thinking a lot about the pursuit of dreams in the more artistic fields. I have for a long time. When you choose to pursue a career in writing, painting, music or any number of artistic fields you get lots of advice, most of it is tinged with a "have a backup plan" or “are you crazy do you know how many starving (insert the field of your choice here) there are?” There is no doubt that these are tough fields, with a very small percentage of people "making it." But what does that mean? Does making it mean that you’re the next Stephen King's or George Clooney? I would argue no. Making a living doing something you love is difficult, especially in fields where you have to be good and lucky and even then sometimes it’s not enough. When bills are due and the people that love you are afraid that you cannot pay your rent, or buy food it becomes easy to give up or put it off. You can work full time and still do what you love. You just have to make time for it. You’ll never find it, you must make it out of your already busy schedule. In the end success is really what you believe it is. Whether it’s a self-published book, a framed painting or picture, one person saying I loved it, when’s the next one or just the act of completing something that you put your heart in to. It’s incredibly easy to say “maybe one day when I have more time.” If you don’t do it now chances are that day may never come.
I am guilty of constantly writing, but never doing anything with it. In my heart I’m a writer. Just not a professional one. Although for me, it’s difficult to claim that I’m ever professional in anything I do. For those out there chasing your dreams, make sure you are running towards something and not away from it. The life of these professions has been glamourized: lots of money, do what you want, not have to answer to a boss. You have to answer to the worst boss of all, yourself and your craft. They can be far more demanding than any human being you’ve ever met. Neither of them will ever pat you on the back and say good job. Instead they will push you to the next project, the next book, sometimes stopping you because the work does not feel good enough, making it sit unseen for years. When you’re the boss, it may never be good enough. That keeps us safe. We’re living for our dreams, but never going out there, because once we go for it, people may reject it, they may say you’re not good enough to succeed. Push them and those thoughts out of the way. If you want something work for it, understand that the only failure is in not trying. Write, act, play, paint because you have a love and/or a gift for it. Even if the only person who reads your work is your significant other, make it the best it can be and be happy that if you’re doing what you love, because you are succeeding. A contract and lots of money does not always signify success. It is what we make of it in everything we do.