Should you do what you love for a living?

Finding happiness at work or in your job - it seems so elusive sometimes doesn't it?

It's really no wonder this is a hot topic when people are feeling ever more dissatisfied and longing for more fulfillment in life. It shouldn't be surprising that the idea of doing what you love to make money seems more attractive than ever before. But is that really the golden ticket it's made out to be?

I have to hold my hands up at this point and make a confession - I'm a bit of an idealist. I've always wanted to do something I love to earn a living. But why wouldn't you think that? Isn't that what we were told to focus on at school or college? To choose A levels or courses that we were interested in?

The problem is that when you actually get to the work place, you may find that you have a qualification or skill (or in my case a lack thereof) that doesn't translate to the ideal job or lifestyle that you had in mind. All too often, the image we had of a fulfilling and interesting career is very different to the reality of the workplace, and that can be a bit of a let down.

It's really no wonder then, that there are so many life coaches and teachers out there attracting thousands of people to seminars & online courses with the promise that you can "live your dream" and "do what you love for a living!"

After all as the saying goes, if you do what you love you'll never work a day in your life.

But is that really true?

At the risk of making myself unpopular again (it's becoming a habit!) I'm going to say, no it's probably not. At least not in the idealistic way we would like to think. 

And whilst I don't dispute that there certainly are ways to turn your passion or the "thing" that you love doing into a business, it's not always easy or practical to do so, and success certainly isn't assured, nor in my experience a living wage! 

There is a somewhat pervasive but toxic message that you come across online, and particularly in the Holistic & New Age Spiritual communities, that you're somehow a "failure" if you're not making a huge business success of your holistic or spiritual work.

At this point I want to just state that I'm not against people doing what they love as a business or to earn a living, but I am going to advise caution and suggest that it may not be all it's cracked up to be. 

There are so many voices in the virtual space advocating for that choice that I feel it's time for a little balance, and I have the benefit of speaking from personal experience.

Firstly, your passion may not be quite so enjoyable once it becomes work. I certainly found that when I started offering Holistic Therapies as a business, they became less fun and more of a chore. To be honest with you I really didn't see that coming and it took some time to adjust my whole mindset around that.

I think the problem is that when you do something as a hobby, albeit your passion or vocation, you can do it on your terms without worrying about the bottom line, margins or even charging for your time if you don't want to. When you turn it into a business, it becomes a very different ball game and you can end up giving yourself far more work than you had before in your "normal" job unless you're pretty clever about it, and rather than fun you have to focus on service. You're no longer doing it for you, you're doing it for your customers and serving their needs. 

Another problem with turning what we feel passionate about into a business, especially in the Holistic space, is that not everybody else is as enthusiastic about it as we are. Heck, half of them probably haven't even heard of the amazing life changing therapy that you love, so the chances of people lining up at your door ready to pay for weekly sessions is slim unless you're prepared to do an unbelievable amount of educating, marketing and advertising.

Just because you're passionate about it, doesn't mean other people will be! That alone can be quite demoralising.

Working for yourself isn't as simple as you turn up and get paid, you have to do all the behind the scenes work that you don't get paid for, and build up a following of people who are prepared to pay for your services. That takes a lot of time, effort and can become too much of a hurdle for some.

I've witnessed many people over the years gain holistic or spiritual skills and qualifications, start up a business and jack in the day job with the best intentions, only to end up disappointed, broke and disillusioned a couple of years down the line. And that's not what I want for you, or for anybody.

So if you're thinking about going down that route, I just want to ask you to think very carefully about what that will entail, whether you're setting yourself up to be broke and exhausted, and whether you've really thought it through with an unemotional mind and whether you have a real, workable plan.

Working for yourself really isn't for everyone, and I certainly don't encourage all my Reiki students to quit the day job and go out and start Reiki practices once they qualify. Quite the reverse.

And if you've tried and it didn't work out, I also want to say that you haven't "failed." You probably did discover some things that don't work, but that's not failure - that's learning.

The bar has been set ridiculously high by online influencers & high profile coaches; particularly those with courses or training to sell.

So I'm going to state for the record that it is absolutely OK not to turn your hobby or passion into work. Your day job may not be very exciting or glamorous, but if you don't mind doing it and are getting along OK, you are not required to rock the boat and make a change just for the sake of it.

It is absolutely fine and perhaps even preferable to keep your passion separate from your work, to have it instead as something special and sacred that you do on your terms, when you feel like it. 

In fact, you may find actually more contentment and joy in doing things that way around. 

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think ;)