12/4/12

The Pursuit Of...

Obligatory statement on how I've been missing in action for so long. Generic and vague explanation as to why I haven't blogged in awhile. Repeated false promise to be "better" at this. Overdramatized emphasis on some event , date, amount of time passed or realization that serves as the inspiration for me to dust off the blog again.

And now that we've got the formalities out of the way, and despite my uncanny self-awareness, I do have some sort of overdramtaized emphasis on some event, date, amount of time passed or realization that inspired me to click on the "blogger" link while browsing gmail tonight. Because tonight, I want to ask you: are you pursuing your dream right now? Are you on the path to your dream job at the moment? And if you actually are, are you really doing it absolutely on your own?

Chances are, unless you're working 20 hours a day in order to keep your low-paying/no paying creative jobs (i.e. non-boring desk job), you're most likely not going at it completely alone. The sacrifice is displaced or shared elsewhere, whether you're living at home or your current mate or spouse is supporting you in some way emotionally or financially. When the mate or spouse is involved while you're pursuing your creative dream job, usually that mate or spouse has to work the more "serious" profession that may or may not lie within their own dreams or aspirations but hey, it pays the bills and provides some sort of stability.

My point is that in a relationship, one gets to pursue the creative dream job while the other serves as the rock, the foundation, the stability. One gets to be in the spotlight while the other keeps things running in the background. And whoever is following through on their dream has to keep in mind the pursuit may not yield dividends for anyone but themselves.

Of course, while my diatribe above just reeks of bitterness and cynicism, I bring it up because I've begun to question whether I'm really pursuing my true "dream." If you ask if I'm happy with the work I'm doing, I'd answer with a resounding "yes," if only because I know that I've found the perfect mix of creativity, stability, and free beer in the office fridge. But is it what I really want to do? To that question, I'd say no, not really, but I understand that what I really want to do will involve an inordinate amount of unpaid work hours that would not be possible unless I still lived with my parents, or had a sugar mama (neither of which is happening anytime soon). And as such, I will begrudgingly accept that I should be content with keeping my "dream job" as a hobby (for now at least), because most responsible adults realize that you can't have two creatives in a relationship who eventually plan on being able to afford to raise a family.

I know everything I said is purely conjecture, but prove me wrong in the comments.

"I'm glad you're worried. If you weren't, I'd be worried."
-SC