do what you love

Spell it Out

Samantha Gratton

I write. You can’t deny it. Whether you think it’s good or bad is not the point. Regardless, I write. I write when I’m thinking through something or learning new lessons or fighting my fears or fleeing from life’s many mysteries. I write to sort through my thoughts and sometimes even to share them with you. It’s an expression and an art form, yet it also remains one of life’s simplest tasks. You don’t need to be a published author to write a to-do list. Nor a famous blogger to type out your daily activities. There’s something I love about that. And something about it that I detest.

I love writing. There’s so many things I could say about it yet still barely scratch the surface. That’s just it. How do you express what can’t be put to words? How to describe the clarity of colors? Or how to go on about the desperate desires of the heart set to song? Sometimes I wish my form of expression wasn’t something also found on a mere post-it note at work. But, oh how I love post-it notes. I love using a pen to jot something down as it emerges from a flitting idea into a coherent thought. The moment you escape the present and get lost in a realm of possibilities.

Writing makes you pause. You have to consider the appropriate word, and even reconsider it, before moving to the next. What is it? How to organize the countless thoughts that are running through your head? Which one takes precedent? Scream and shout. Whisper and murmur. It all looks the same on paper.

I think I could write an entire book about writing without really saying anything at all. Consider this my attempt at abstract art—a mess of colors that can only be truly understood by its creator, if even so. 

Love What You Do

Samantha Gratton

I thoroughly enjoy blogging. This predilection takes me out of my head sometimes and just allows the thoughts to fall out. I like the idea that people then read it and maybe come to similar conclusions as I did or feel inspired and excited by whatever it is I just wrote. There’s a certain thrill and excitement that comes when an idea first sparks, and I know I’ll be able to chase it down and discover where it leads. It is something that makes me feel truly alive, and it motivates me to do things I never would have imagined.

The hubby finds a similar joy with music. He writes and plays and records all sorts of ideas. Some days I’ll come home and find him so immersed in his music that I’ll walk in, make dinner and settle in, and he won’t even know I’m home. Or that he’s hungry. It’s the type of thrill and excitement that comes from doing what you love. Something inside of you comes alive that can’t be explained or duplicated elsewhere.

Often people will say, “Do what you love.” There’s definitely some truth to that, but I don’t think it should be the ultimate career goal. I believe your job should incorporate or have some overlap with what you love, but to keep some of your work separate from what you love doing. For instance, if I took my love of blogging and made it my job, it would be a completely different blog. First of all, I’d need to have ads, something I can’t promise won’t ever happen, but not something I’m interested in doing right now. This blog is a safe space for me to say what I think and comment on what’s happening, not a place for me to plug random products I receive in the mail. (Bloggers of the world: If you do this, it’s okay! Just not something I’m ready for.) Past that, in order for me to make this blog my job, I’d need to do a whole lot more self-promo. And probably upgrade from a tumblr and hire a web designer to make me look legit. I’d also need to blog consistently and regularly. This is not a bad thing, but I do think it would take out the spontaneity and raw perspective that this holds now. Instead of being naturally prolific, there would be a certain pressure to write something good every time and something that my readers want to read.

Now, if all I want to do is blog what I think but suddenly I’m doing all of that too, is it still something I love? I can’t say I know for sure, but I’ve had blogs in the past that were more closely followed, and they fizzled out. I wasn’t able to be as true to who I was. It became a blog for somebody else and not for me. I think the same concept can be applied for many people and what they love, whether it’s art or music or crafts or cooking or sports or something else completely. When your creative outlet becomes what you depend on for groceries/rent, it changes. It’s not all bad, but still very different. For me, in lieu of “do what you love” I’ve decided to “love what I do.” By that I mean, I am going to enjoy this act of blogging for what it is, how it is. I love it enough as it is that it isn’t worth it to change it right now into something I don’t love as much. I’ll do other things that I’m good at and enjoy in my career but keep what I love separate so I can continue to love it.