The reality is that people don’t get dissuaded from living with passion or full of purpose in one day. It takes many little sidetracks and tiny diversions to shift the course of a life. These come in and take over when priorities aren’t solidly established, and slowly, our hearts die for lack of joy. This adventurous quest called life starts to feel like a complex labyrinth of a dark fable, instead of a joyful hedge we play in.
At my old day job at Groupon, I spoke on a panel about freelancing while still working the corporate gig. I said a lot of bullshit about schedules and balance and organization, but the truth of the matter was that I made a deliberate choice. I knew from the first day of that job that I did not want to be there and I never would.
It’s not that it was a bad place (even though it was, but that took years to actually develop). No, it was because I knew that I was no longer in a place where I would feel immense pleasure daily.
Before that gig, I worked in a museum where I spent my lunch breaks down in the galleries. But I also spent a year not really writing, at least not of substance. My previous environment was a little push away (a glorious push) from my goals. But I knew this new place would not offer the same rewards of distraction. No, it could potentially destroy me, make me angry, resentful. And it did in the end, at least a little bit. But I as able to alleviate that, to change my mind, to not let one thing be every thing.
Some wise words on freelancing and side jobs
tangentwithtanner
yousharknotpass
dededos
prguitarman
kaledo-art
gummygunk
izzy806
discoholicmusic
