You sometimes hear people say "don't quit your day job" as a way to encourage you to just stay put, make the money you need to pay your bills, and stop dreaming about making money with your passions.
I can almost picture the middle-aged man telling this to his hopeful, starry-eyed daughter that runs to her bedroom to cry in her pillow after her father dashes her dreams.
It's not very inspiring.
Some of us are so uninspired by this rigid, depressing mindset that we end up quitting our day jobs to pursue our dreams and then end up putting so much pressure on the dreams that they end up becoming a source of stress and chaos rather than joy.
But, I'm all about dreams. Believe me. I'm the queen of dreams.
I've spent the better part of three decades in the pursuit of them.
But what I've come to realize is that life doesn't always work like we think it should or will.
There are always going to be twists, turns, mis-steps, and even heartbreaks that are out of our control.
Dreams don't always play out how or when we want them to and because of this, I've been inclined to get a little jaded on the whole concept of chasing them.
Except I myself, am still a dreamer. A full-fledged, rainbows-and-unicorns, ikigai-or-die, life-isn't-worth-living-if-you-don't-do-what-you-love kind of dreamer.
So I've had to figure out a different way - a way that honors all of my dreams, passions, and desires, but in a way that actually makes sense with my tangible reality and the different seasons of my life.
I've had to figure out a different way to interpret the concept of the ikigai.
For me, that means that I teach a little piano to make money and do all my creative dreams and passions on the side. I no longer expect my dreams and passions to make money.
I have taken the "business" side out of it, which has made ALL THE DIFFERENCE for me.
It has taken the pressure off me (and my dreams) so that I can just do them how and when I want (or can), instead of expecting them to pay the bills
I let the passions = money mindset go and do something else to make money instead.
I'm not saying this is the right way for everyone.
I think we all have to figure out what works for us personally. There are SO MANY WAYS TO DO LIFE. Some people might even just need to find a different day job that feels a little less awful. Who knows? There are also many people that do make money from their dreams and passions and that's great! I just think it's helpful for the rest of us to remember that there could be, in fact, a way to keep our day jobs AND pursue our dreams.
Personally, I think I'd rather "gently create" my dreams rather than "chase" them.
Chasing sounds way too exhausting.
Lots of love,
(I want to point out that during times of crisis in my life, I have had to set my dreams down for a while - which is always so heartbreaking. Lots of love to anyone in this situation right now.)
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