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So young, so jaded.

I’m tired of hearing people say “Writing is my passion.”

Why does nobody ever say “Accounting/Chemistry/Physics/Law/Greek/Programming is my passion?”

There seems to be something noble about aspiring to make a living through the arts.

But in two, five, even ten years, when you’re working thankless hours for a pittance, you might be rethinking that plan.

And maybe by that stage, you won’t be so passionate about putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, anymore.

9 thoughts on “So young, so jaded.

  • Reply The Non-Student September 15, 2010 at 00:05

    I think it’s tougher to be passionate about something that doesn’t require use of both left and right brain. I think people are skilled at the things you mentioned and make a good living with those skills, but that doesn’t mean they are passionate about what they do. I am passionate about my job (organizing around maternal health), and I feel pretty lucky about that.

  • Reply Amber @ Blonde & Balanced September 15, 2010 at 02:08

    acounting is my passion … heh 🙂 (not really, but i am passionate about having a good job with a decent salary) 🙂

  • Reply Jane September 15, 2010 at 03:34

    I’ve heard a few people say “programming is my passion.” (Then again, I’m a programmer.) I’m INSANELY jealous of those people, because they can code away for hours on end because they love the code. I have to focus on my connection to the people on the other end of the code to get through it.

    My passion is learning new things, which, unfortunately, doesn’t always lend itself to monetary gain. (On the other hand, if you can get excited about financial planning, even just for long enough to set up some automatic savings and retirement accounts like I did, you end up ahead of a lot of people.)

    People tend to get less passionate as they get older. Young, overly-enthusiastic people can be annoying, but older, jaded people can be just as bad. Sigh.

    Love this post.

  • Reply Amber from Girl with the Red Hair September 15, 2010 at 06:11

    LOL! I love my job – but it’s not my “passion”. I am passionate about blogging, social media, running and food though!

  • Reply Amanda September 15, 2010 at 11:44

    I know plenty of people who have a passion for programming and web languages…I guess I’m still figuring out exactly what my own passion is, but generally, I’d say people. My passion is people – I like people, I enjoy working with and for people.

  • Reply Storm September 15, 2010 at 12:51

    You know, I was a history major (which I guess is a “noble” thing too, that whole liberal arts thing, learning to learn) but I have been starting to meet a lot of people who are passionate about things like accounting or financial adviser, or just math, all things I find disgusting/boring. You may run into these writers because you are immersed in the culture of writing. Me, my best friend is a Math-person and I am immersed in Yuppie bars. Find the Yuppie hang-outs, then you will find plenty of people who don’t give a damn about the arts. I would try a sports bar.

    I’m with Amanda though, people are my passion as well. I try to meet as many new types as possible, from the artsy type to the yuppies.

  • Reply The Asian Pear September 15, 2010 at 14:00

    That’s not true! I know tons of geeks who’d say “Math is my passion” and “Programming is my passion.” One so much so that he’s part of the Math Olympics every year! You need to know more nerds. 🙂

  • Reply findingserenity2010 September 15, 2010 at 13:35

    Graduate school killed my passion for the humanities. It happens to a lot of people. Literature, poetry, drama? I started to hate it after a while, especially since our professors were pretty blunt with us about trying to make it as an English scholar – you can’t. It’s all beyond my mental capacity at the moment, especially since I’m barely making a living trying to teach students not to write run-on sentences!

    So where’s my passion? Right now, it’s in my pet care job. I genuinely enjoy meeting all the people and greeting all the different kinds of pets that come into our store. It brings me so much joy. And I didn’t have to go to school to learn that. Funny how that works.

  • Reply Revanche October 3, 2010 at 15:42

    LOL @AP and “You need to know more nerds.” It is true, though. I think it takes knowing more nerds and/or knowing more people who do very different things who say they love various disciplines and actually do them in real life.

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