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Turning your passion into pay: What you’ve heard before, but never listened to

Turning your passion into pay: What you’ve heard before, but never listened to

The internet (read: YouTube) is oversaturated with it: Interviews with celebrities talking about their road to riches. No matter what artist is involved, questions regarding their success are almost always answered with a reference to doing ‘what you love’.

I’m someone who is also very passionate about his musical art, these types of conversations always resonate with me in a way that a sermon may spiritually stimulate a devoted Christian. Maybe it is time for me to pursue my dreams of becoming a recording artist!

Steve Jobs was a college dropout, Mariah Carey is famously credited for stating that she “only went to 1000 hours of beauty school” and Kanye West dedicated a whole album to it.

Steve Jobs (left) holding the first Apple Computer, which with later developments lead to the Apple devices widely known and used.

You would expect that to be enough for a little kid with big dreams like me. Enough to make me want to spread my wings and fly like the songbird I am destined to be.

Still, like an anxious bird unsure about its abilities to soar the sky, the insecurities of a job without a degree succeed very well in holding me back. I have a 7,8 GPA, I’m about to do a marketing internship with growing opportunities and I love studying, why give up a future that is so secure?

To me, this sense of security only occurs when your passion isn’t strong enough for you to believe in its abilities to take you where you want to be – which for the majority of us means a steady income and maintainable life. It is possible to be creative and successful, there are plenty of examples.

These, however, are only the exception to the rule, with the rule being that hobbies should be a secondary thing to your prioritized professional career. To become part of that exception, hard work and dedication is consistently needed.

That last adverb, ‘consistently’, is important to mention, as it was something that for the longest part of my life, I neglected. I would plan out my musical career, work really hard on it, then slowly start becoming uninterested or preoccupied with other things. It is logical to then see my career not taking off the way I desired it to, while artists with a similar starting point like me had streaming numbers soaring up with every single.

Calling this a tough pill to swallow is only stating a percentage of the facts. This feeling of devastation was totally misdirected, as I simply did not put in the work that I needed to, in a consistent manner.

It’s not just about creating your art, it’s about creating, evaluating, even hating it, and knowing what to change and perfect. Steve Jobs did not create Apple in its current success – he needed to escape his academic path to channel all his energy in his passion. For me, I am still figuring out if this is something that I need to do.

The tightrope tightened over the streets of my insecurities connects me to a creative wonderland where my talents are valuable to the world, and I just need to consistently set one foot ahead.


Author : Giani
Editor: Ayesha
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