From a young age, children are told to aspire for greatness, which is, of course, a great thing. However, too often we equate greatness with wealth and/or fame. We make these distinctions so carelessly that sometimes children begin to categorize their future before they get a chance to explore their full potentials. It has been taught that to be happy, one needs to be a doctor or a lawyer, to be an engineer or a CEO.
Of course, some people are happy in those positions, but we aren't all hardwired the same. The fidgety kid in the back of the classroom may in fact not be a pain, but just not designed to be sitting behind a desk. The kid that's drawing in his notebook and zoning out (me) isn't a lazy student; maybe he's just practicing what he's passionate about. That child that enjoys teaching or maybe social work, but then is repeatedly told that he or she will make little to no money in that profession, suddenly realizes that the dream that the kid's once held is a non-starter. For this exact reason, we need to begin shifting focus from happiness stemming from monetary successes to the joy that comes from work worth doing.
Jessi Kristine, an Illinois-based young woman, decided that the path that was set ahead of her wasn't one that she necessarily wanted to follow.
"I was always directed away from the arts," Jessi said. Her pursuit of photography didn't begin until she attended community college and met a professor of photography. "He pushed me harder than any other student and made me realize that I wasn't meant to do anything else. He also helped me discover confidence within myself and my work, which helped me pursue a higher education within it," she added.
The internal struggle that persists, paying the bills or doing what you love, which makes it more difficult. However, Jessi says, "In the end, my drive to always do what I love and to be my own boss wins." Her photography is stunning, her drive is undeniable and her perseverance when times get hard show the true value of following true passions.
Like Jessi Kristine, Ian Olsen, decided to follow the path that not as many choose to follow. He attended college in New York, and with his degree began to pursue freelance art.
Olsen said, "My passion is building art, helping to facilitate the making of art. Basically I build skeletons that other people dress up nice and pretty." It is his belief that repetition and practice is the key to a successful career. In reference to this belief, he said, "Ben Franklin said that 'We are what we repeatedly do, and excellence, therefore is a practice.' I take the first half of that sentence pretty seriously, that we are what we repeatedly do."
It was his belief, as well, that if he put his mind to it, he could easily become the successful artist that he had wanted to be. This mindset is one that's not just inspiring, but one that needs to be more common. It doesn't matter if the passion you pursue is accounting, education or freelance art; they all carry equal weight and are deserving of respect among everyone.
Olsen's advice was something quite profound. "If you want to be something, call yourself that thing and you will become it over time. I said, 'I am a freelance artist,' and doggone it, I am one."
Finally, Lizzy Lewis, who I've known for a while, has just left to further her education and continue exploring her theatrical talents. Although she believes that she was lucky to have found her gift at such a young age, she also believes that her parents' influence was something of a game changer.
"They were always extremely supportive but also very hands-off. They let me take voice lessons and go to a bunch of theater camps, but they never made me feel like I would disappoint them if I didn't excel," Lewis said. Her mother was a journalist and started from the bottom.
"She showed me that if you're doing what you love," Lewis began, "it's thrilling and a joy to work hard." Through camps, lessons and various courses, she was able to follow what she loved without necessarily needing it in her schooling. With the support of her parents and with her work ethic, she was able to find what she loved and make a career out of it.
It shouldn't matter the number of zeroes in your salary, the amount of abbreviated words after your title or the money you spent getting your degree. Happiness should come from the joy of being able to do what you love every day of your life and to get paid for doing it. People are going to tell you, in some cases, that what you love can't be a job and it won't pay nearly enough. But as Jessi Kristine says, "take [the criticism] in so you can learn, change if you need to and grow as a person."
