8/19/2010
It is an ordinary day. Nothing too spectacular about it… but a simple saying for me has turned into a personally helpful chain of thoughts. Not thoughts that I hope to enforce upon your psyche, but thoughts I have found to be true. I don’t want to question anyone’s life, I just want to share what has made me so happy today.
Chase a dream, not a lifestyle
As a newly single man, and maybe with the case with other men who have found themselves one half short, I have been forced to deal with a sudden drop of self perception and self esteem. As much as I like to feel that I am mentally strong, there is no doubt I’ve had to face some demons. I wouldn’t say that my particular case of failed romance would be a direct correlation to this the above italicized statement, but rather it did get me thinking. You know, how two things can spur from one another but aren’t necessarily related? Anyways, on I go.
All day this “chase a dream, not a lifestyle” blurb has been echoing in my head. Yeah, sure, it sounds good (a bit cliché), but it did ring a good bell for me.
More and more have I realized today, that for most of us young people who aren’t such poor victims of circumstance (much like the circumstance of people with many liabilities), I feel that we must dream and pursue things of which we are most passionate. Only then are we being ourselves and only then can we contribute at our highest potential to the world and to the ones we love. Let me use the example of the professional athlete. Now, there is no doubt, professional athletes make amazing amounts of money…some of them make more than twenty million dollars a year. But if you look at each athlete on a case by case basis, you will find some athletes who make a lot of money doing what they love, and some athletes who have made a lot of money chasing a lifestyle. Those who have committed the latter tend to have had many personal issues, or didn’t have good careers, and didn’t contribute nearly as much as someone who was purely passionate about their sport. For professional athletes who make a lot of money doing what they truly love doing, well, that’s just a beautiful marriage of a dream meeting a highly desired lifestyle. But I will assure you, the players who are undoubtedly passionate about the sport would still feel their passion burn inside of them even if they got paid minimum wage…those players end up being the greats of the sport. There are cases everywhere and an obvious modern case of a truly passionate athlete is Brett Favre.
Why do I write this? Because I have definitely fallen into the trap of confusing what I should be most passionate about , the dream or the lifestyle. I definitely drive around my neighborhood and fantasize about what I am going to do in order to afford a house that is worth as much as that one around the corner. Now, I’m not quite saying that it is a fault to desire wealth. In fact, I have concluded that the acquisition of true wealth is a very smart desire to have but it shouldn’t drive nor leak into what I am most passionate about….and my passion should never be confused or blurred into the same train of thought as anything else. When my passion ever became crossed into my desired lifestyle, then I have only found results to be negative and just absolutely wrong. When we dream, when we love, and when we have an undying passion for what we love, then we know what it is that we need to pursue. As a result, we can truly exist in our most pure self.
I’m about to accuse something, and this is probably the first time I have accused anything when writing. But I do find that outside influence such as terrible music and media have a big impact on how we tend to lose a sense of ourselves and how we become confused. Very rarely do we see something on TV or hear things on our ipod that that encourages us to keep painting a picture within ourselves which will depict our passions. The media that accompanies us encourages such a broad mainstream filled with generic thoughts and ideals that is so strong that people are afraid to step out of it. I mean, even individuality is no exception to the bland holdings of mass media. Originality and personality now have a certain dialect, clothing, and way to walk. Its pathetic.
It is truly a shame when we lose ourselves and it not only hurts us, but it hurt those around us.
The life of a freelance musician is a life of hustle. You have to make opportunities for yourself and for every opportunity that comes us, you have to have a relentless mindset of taking advantage of it. Some gigs pay well, some gigs don’t pay well. It is my dream one day to play in a symphony orchestra. I can’t begin to explain how beautiful that would be.
But, whether being payed to play as a freelance musician or a more higher payed symphony musician, I doubt that the happiness felt on payday will be nearly as abundant as the happiness I have felt knowing that I do love music and I do love sports. I know this, I do it for a living, and nothing could make me happier than the joys I feel while I am on the job. Sometimes I lose myself…not by forgetting what I do…but I lose myself when I get off track. Then after that , its like a domino affect of other things that go wrong.
I have met many people who have put behind what it is that they are passionate about and thought that a certain lifestyle alone would make them happy. I'm so sad to see it, especially when they share such cases of regret. People will tell themselves that they love the lifestyle and in retrospect, realize that what they loved, they left behind.
Now, what I will not deny is the fact that people will sometimes become victim of circumstance and liability and the pressure to be able to function in a society. So yes, sometimes the man who dreamed of being a folk artist might have to go an be an engineer. Or maybe the street musician might have to get some hours at the local bookstore. I don't find that to be wrong. What bothers me is when people let themselves be sucked into what it is that merely employs them. Some feel the pressure of letting go of their passions due to competition and their perception as defined by others. That is when its a shame...when the core of you diffuses.
You must be true to what it is that you love. The moment that is swayed, then there is great danger on the horizon.
