Tell me about yourself.

[resonant]

I'm suddenly struck with the desire to know how other people do the things that matter most to them, how they find and follow their passions.

How do you decide where your heart is? How do you carve out time and energy to pursue it?

Are you on a new road or one you've been following for a long time? What have you learned that could help others? What false starts have you made, what poor judgments? What have you compromised, and what do those compromises look like to you now?

Comments

[cat-latin.livejournal.com]

I'm 41, single and childless. I've worked in insurance, waited on tables, sold cosmetics, cared for the disabled, been a proofreader and a phone collections person. I even briefly worked as a dominatrix. I'm glad I've put my hands to so many things.

Ideally, I'd be making a living telling stories through writing, art and performance. So far, I've only done these things for fun.

I find it incredibly difficult to follow my bliss. It took me a decade to get up the nerve to go to college and six years to finish my degree. Every time I approach the easel or the blank computer screen, lots of negative garbage from my past gets in the way. ("that's a stupid idea, this is no way to make a living, you'll never be good enough," etc.) I have to expend lots of energy fighting off those demons before I can reach a balanced place to create.

I'll never stop fighting, but it's exhausting. I always hope it will get easier.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Every time I approach the easel or the blank computer screen, lots of negative garbage from my past gets in the way. ("that's a stupid idea, this is no way to make a living, you'll never be good enough," etc.)

God, yes. It may be the hardest thing in the world to let yourself be a beginner, let yourself make mistakes and learn.

I have a friend who's from Spain, and even after seven years here her English isn't that great, but I admire her so much because she starts conversations with strangers, about complicated subjects, even when she doesn't know the words -- like a little kid learning to talk, really. You can't learn anything if you can't stand to look foolish.

(Can you tell I have to tell myself this a lot?)