You Deserve To Do What You Love

By: Brandon Gaskins

    Have you ever heard the phrase, "Do what you have to, until you can do what you want to"? I would tell myself this everyday as I went to work at a job I hated. I was miserable and did not see an end to my misery. Everyday I would wake up around 4:00am, averaging about five hours of sleep a day. I could literally feel my body aging everyday, I was "running on fumes". I drove buses and straight trucks, I chose this profession because I like to travel, love the outdoors and enjoy physical activity. I have had several office jobs that bored me completely, one office job had me in a cubicle facing a brick wall and my internet access was restricted, I hated it so much but it paid the bills.

    Well unless we are ready to downsize our lifestyle, we will always have bills that keep us, doing what we have to in order to pay bills. Why buy a house or even a new car if you are not happy at your profession or if your profession does not allow you the financial freedom to make those purchases using your own money. How can you say, "I just bought a house", when all your doing is making payments on one, what you just purchased was a financial burden. 

    The truth is we create our own road blocks, we make the decisions that keep us from living a life we can be happy with, instead of a life being contempt or just plain miserable. Some of us love to write, others love to work with their hands and some enjoy public speaking, regardless of whatever you love to do, you deserve to be able to do it as a profession. When you are miserable it affects you and everyone else around you.  The same goes when you have joy in your heart, we have all seen that person who is always smiling, always has a positive attitude, its infectious and admirable. You have to make the decisions that will put you closer to doing the things you love to do.   

    Sure there is a risk in pursuing your passions but there is an even greater risk on settling for a job that does not satisfy you. Being miserable affects your physical and mental health. We have all heard the term, "going postal" referring to postal workers, whose anger for their job boils over and the postal worker has a violent outburst. Postal workers are paid a pretty good salary but it requires so much of your time and energy. You will never hear a postal worker or correctional officer say, "I am doing what I love to do". A good paying job could never replace the joy from doing what you love to do, and over time your earnings can surpass that of a dead end job.