MAKIN’ IT HAPPEN

Find your passion, then learn how to make money doing it.

This isn’t the first time you’ve heard me say this, but I feel this phrase needs reiteration.

It’s no secret that people have come and still enter this fine country because we have this crazy democracy which implies that any person can do anything. They can be whomever they want; whatever career they wish to peruse, is at their fingertips. It’s a dandy country filled with opportunity and the ability to succeed.

But let’s be honest. That ideal is really based on boring, generic jobs, isn’t it? Accountant. Check. Graphic Designer. Got it. Mechanic. Not a problem. But the Arts? Professional Sports? What? You might as well find a real job, because no one makes it to the top of those professions.

I’m not sure why dreaming is such a negative concept in our society. In one ear, you hear, you can be anything you want, but in the next breath that same voice says, but not that. And the moment you finally make the decision, despite all the odds, there’s ridicule and frustration. I’ll never understand it.

Even yours truly has been chastised by my own family members for dreaming of becoming a successful writer, to write my own screenplays for the movie version of my books, and you know darn well that I’m bringing back the bobble head with my characters bobbing on my fan’s car dashes.

But here’s the thing—some of us dreamers actually make it, and I’m ecstatic for those that do. Cheers!

My nephew, Logan is in his mid-twenties and is on the big stage. Yes, in New York City, that weird subculture of the state we call Broadway. If anyone is in the area, you can see him perform in Mama Mia—and frankly, I’m tickled pink thinking about this kid acting and singing his little heart out.

Double Cheers!

How many times was he told he wouldn’t make it? How many times was he told he wasn’t good enough, or good looking enough (he’s a Dolence, of course he’s good looking enough), or to get a business degree, join the family business…and all the other crap people throw at someone with a dream because they were too scared to venture off the Path of Boring.

My best advice is that if you’ve got the heart, the drive, and the passion to follow your dreams, effing do it. Because if you love what you do, yes, you’ll work hard at it, but man, how you’ll love getting up in the morning a lot more than having that crappy job they talked you into, the same one that makes you beat your head on the steering wheel while still in the parking lot.

If you have a dream but can’t find the time to practice it, maybe try sacrificing an hour a day that could have been spent watching your favorite show, or feeding the kids, or smoking crack. You do you. Find you passion. The world awaits.