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this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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[cynical rant – take with a bucket of salt]
you don’t
you pick something that you are competent at that pays the bills and keeps you alive and gives you enough free time to work on what you actually want to do
traditional boomer advice was to pick something you love, but after putting in endless hours of doing it over and over just to make enough to keep you fed and provide a place to sleep, you will grow to resent it with a passion – for your own mental health, you absolutely must maintain a separation between the job and your personal life
I agree - I loved art in high school and really wanted to be an illustrator. But I graduated in 08 (recession) and I didn't have the confidence to try to make it as a freelancer or whatever.
I ended up choosing a really boring path in office work because I just wanted to make sure I was inside at a computer while I was working. At first it was so depressing - I had built my identity around my artwork. But I eventually found a new field that I loved and transitioned into that thanks to skills and resources from my boring office experience - I'm really happy with it all today and don't regret anything.
I guess what I'm saying is that I've found happiness/success by disconnecting my identity from my occupation and focusing on the work environment I want instead of the content of the work.