The lies we tell ourselves…
Find a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.
This infamous advice sounds like a dream come true, right? No more dragging yourself out of bed every morning, dreading the daily grind, and counting down the hours until the weekend. Instead, you’ll be playing in daisy fields while blissfully unconcerned with the idea of “work”— after all, you are doing what you love and that is a rainbow walk in the park.
At your age, I have no doubt that you have heard that statement innumerable times. How often it is given to fresh graduates as if it is the only career guidance they would ever need to live a fulfilling life on earth.
How it is written on uplifting note cards, bumper stickers, and inspirational posters as though they are the Lord’s prayer. What I’m trying to say is that we’ve heard this remark or piece of advice repeatedly as if it were a tried-and-true maxim that, if followed, would guarantee success in all facets of life, not just your work.
But wait, is this highly idealized idea truly all that it’s cracked up to be, or is it simply another meaningless cliche that makes the majority of us roll our eyes? Will having a job you’re genuinely passionate about make the rest of your life seems like a long Hawaiian vacation?
Personally, I don’t believe it. In fact, I feel that it is completely reasonable to love your profession while yet realizing that it is difficult to work. Let’s consider the following:
Work is no play
I’m fortunate to be able to make a living doing something that I genuinely love. However, it doesn’t mean I’m not conscious of the fact that I would typically prefer to be having a few drinks with friends or just lying idle fidgeting with my phone than attempting to meet a deadline.
Yes, work and fun are really different from one another. Play is all about having fun and enjoying yourself, but work necessitates energy and effort in order to pay the bills and put food on the table. If you’re fortunate, you’ll be able to bring some of that enthusiasm and delight into your regular activities. However, that in no way implies that the rest of your professional life will be like taking candy from a baby.
Your job differs from all others by including that pressure and the expectation for payment. Work, in contrast to fun, is sometimes something you have to do because you need to do it. Furthermore, there’s a good probability that you won’t still love it as much once it becomes a job.
Your passion arguably may not even be a realistic career
Can you turn the clock back to when you were a kid? I bet you can still very much remember what you wanted to be when you grew up. The professional path you were so eager to pursue and how many of them eventually materialized. Some of us fantasized about becoming unicorns and fairy godmothers until we disappointingly realized that those daydreams will not put on the table or roof over our heads.
I suppose what I’m trying to convey is that it’s encouraged to have strong interests, passions, and goals. Finding your passion, though, is only half of the solution. We must however seek opportunities that will enable us to maintain a respectable and comfortable quality of living due to pressures from real-life situations.
Maybe you’re a great painter or poet. That’s fantastic if you ask me but even if you are incredibly talented, we all understand that they are fairly specialized and exclusive employment domains. Therefore, even though “identifying what you love” may have been checked off your to-do list, you’re undoubtedly well aware that love doesn’t pay the bills.
No job is completely perfect
There are lots of folks that adore their jobs to the fullest. That shouldn’t, however, be misconstrued as implying that everything is ideal.
Almost every job has at least a few annoying duties or responsibilities that are just never pleasurable. Most of the time, you might adore what you do. But there will inevitably be a few related tasks that you loathe. Whatever it may be, there is a part of your daily life that you can’t help but say, “Ugh”— the very thing that makes this piece of advice flawed.
