You’ve probably heard the quote attributed to Marc Anthony, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
That’s something that a lot of us aspire to, or at least hope for: a job or business that pays enough to live comfortably and is a joy to work at everyday.
My father, an eternal optimist, thoroughly enjoyed all of his positions in higher education. Sure, there were annoyances and stress, but he truly loved what he did and was grateful. While I have enjoyed aspects of all of the positions and businesses that I’ve had, I have found that the stressors are often overwhelming.
Last year, I revisted my first love, art, and started creating artwork with resin with my mom. As I’ve shared before, we started out making pieces for fun, but we are now sharing our work with others through our booth at art festivals. Last week, a shop approached us to sell our pieces in their store. Now we are feeling a bit of pressure to make more and more art, which is both a good and bad problem. We appreciate that people want to buy our art, but it’s feeling a bit more like work with deadlines and quotas.
So, a decision has to be made. In order to achieve work-life balance, do you turn your passion into a business, or do you keep it as a fun pastime?
At this point, I’m ready to take on the next challenge of stepping up the production and seeing how far we can take this. During my freshman year in college, I majored in art. I gave up that dream when I decided that I just wasn’t good enough. It’s true that I’m no Renoir or Georgia O’Keefe, but I do create artwork that people appreciate. It’s a fantastic feeling, and I want to keep creating.
Yes, I think that when a passion becomes a business, it can still be fun. However, I feel that it’s a good idea to keep checking in with myself to make sure that it’s still fun.
Happy Creating!