how to pursue your dreams in life
If you are looking to pursue a creative career or pursue a passion in something that you've always wanted to do but you never really quite had the faith in yourself, this episode is for you.
This is probably the question that I get asked the most about my path to being a full-time writer/ running my own business and I wanted to talk about that because I think a lot of us get impostor syndrome and self-doubt around actually pursuing a passion that we have.
this episode
I always wanted to be a writer. Growing up, I wrote a lot of short stories and a couple novels in high school. I wrote about things in my life, fictional things that I would make up. I always knew that I wanted my name to be on the shelves in bookstores.
I loved escaping into new worlds and writing those new worlds too, so I knew that that was something that I wanted to do. I feel like as you get older, you kind of realize that people don’t look down on the arts, but they’re not as respected as other, higher paying jobs like STEM fields. I think I started discouraging myself from pursuing an artistic career because I didn’t want to waste my time or money, and studied communications and PR with a focus on marketing instead. But while in college, I found poetry and started writing some myself.
During my second year of college in 2016, I published my first poetry collection and made a decent little bit of side income from that, and decided to try again. I continued focusing on marketing and growing my audience on social media and published my second collection in 2019, and I think that’s when things kind of turned around for me.
I think when pursuing a passion, you have to trust that it will work out, even if there are signs it will not. Even if it is slow.
I’m now on year 7 of writing, and only decided to pursue it full-time last year. It definitely takes a lot of consistency but it was so worth it. I could have told myself that nobody wanted to read my poetry, that I didn’t have important things to say, that I wasn’t good at writing and that I wouldn’t make enough money from it, that there’s already enough writers and poetry, but I didn’t. The world can always use your art. There’s an audience for it, you just have to reach them.
If you're someone who is struggling to find the motivation to pursue a passion, I think you have to remember why you do it in the first place. Take away the money and the audience and other people’s opinions, which I know can be really hard to do. But remember why you started and use that to keep pursuing it. Write it out and keep it on a post-it note or journal or your phone notes app, something close to you whenever you aren't feeling motivated. Remember your why.
And I also want to say that passions can change. If you aren't feeling passionate about something and you are trying all these things to get back into it and you feel like you're kind of forcing yourself to, it's okay if your passions shift and change. We all grow as people, we change over time, our interests change. You don't have to force yourself. Sometimes taking a break and trying something new can spark your creativity a bit more.
So that is my advice for you, give yourself grace. The world needs your art, the world needs your words, the world needs your voice and you—your brain, your mind, your soul—needs you to pursue this creative passion too.
small step
Remember why you do what you do. Write it down. Think about what makes you happy, what makes you feel fulfilled. Maybe it's something that you don't consider a passion right now. Maybe it's something you only do a couple of times but that's the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about what makes you happy. Find what makes you passionate and run with that. Research and see if you can take a course on it, or a local class, or get coffee with someone in that job field. Practice your passion often and then shout it from the rooftops that you want to pursue it as a hobby or career. Promote it.
where to listen
you can tune into this episode on your favorite podcast site or by visiting one of the links below!
If you have any questions that I can answer about this, I would love to chat more. Something I’m really passionate about is helping other creative people feel more energized and passionate about what they do and feel like they can truly pursue it. That's why I started the poetry club, my online poetry community to help other poets pursue publishing and marketing their books. That's why I help other authors of all genres market their books.
So if that sounds like you, please reach out to me or check out the different ways you can work with me here. Creativity is so important. We consume art every single day, and the world needs yours too.