Passion vs paycheck- the real cost of choosing purpose over 9-5

If you had to choose between what feeds your soul and what pays bills what would you choose?

On the surface, it seems like a fairly easy question, but the deeper you think about it the more complicated it becomes.

Some people are fortunate enough to have passions that also pay their bills. They wake up everyday with a sense of purpose,  knowing that they are exactly where they want to be, doing exactly what they want to do. That in itself is a blessing which shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Others are not so fortunate. They have passions they cannot pursue full-time because those passions don’t provide a stable income. After all, bills don’t care about passion. Passion doesn’t pay rent. Dreams don’t buy groceries.

So they opt for a 9-5 as a means to an end which ends up being a source of frustration.  Between work and life’s demands, passion is slowly pushed to the terraces. Days become weeks, weeks become months and months become years, before they realise it, they have given up on the dreams they once had.

Now imagine waking up for years everyday doing a job you loathe because it pays the bills while your heart yearns for something else. Deep down you wish you were pursuing what you really love. You know your purpose lies elsewhere; in creating, activism, entrepreneurship, social impact or whatever it is that sets your soul on fire. Yet instead of pursuing that you find yourself stuck with spreedsheets or in meetings you have no interest in, counting down the hours until the day ends.

Working a 9-5 is not a tragedy in itself. There is dignity in honest work and many people actually find genuine fulfillment in traditional careers. The tragedy however is when financial security and responsibilities force us to abandon passion.

Realistically, not everyone can just quit their job on a whim to pursue their dreams full-time. This is not utopia. Responsibilities exist but there is a difference between postponing a dream and abandoning it permanently.

So, I want to leave you with a few questions:

1. If you had the opportunity what would pursue?

2. What is that one thing you are passionate about?

3. What’s stopping you from doing it full-time?

4. And finally, what are you going to do about it?

Are you going to spend your whole life stuck in a 9-5 because it pays the bills but leaves you feeling empty? Or are you going to start taking small, deliberate steps towards the life you desire?

What a tragedy it would be to reach the end of your life only to realize that fear, comfort or circumstances prevented you from ever pursuing the one thing that made you feel most alive.

When all is said and done, may it be said that you answered the call of your purpose and truly embraced it.

“What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up
      like a raisin in the sun?
      Or fester like a sore—
      And then run?” – Langston Hughes

#WINTERABC26