Comments on: Is it Selfish to Follow Your Passion?

By: Todd

Todd — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 22:54:53 +0000

Here’s my take. Me, I’m 28, graduated from college 2 years ago and I currently live at home with my parents. About 2 years ago, thanks to the economy, I lost (what I thought at the time was) my dream job as Ferrari mechanic (don’t get me wrong it was awesome) and my girlfriend that I was in love with. I decided that traveling was something I needed to do, since other than a trip to Mexico and 2 trips to Montreal, I had never been out of the country. I spent 7 weeks traveling across Europe by myself and it completely changed my perspective on life. When I returned I dabbled in a few other industries completely opposite of what my degree trained me for. Finally, about 4 months ago I said screw it and decided to start my own internet business. While it’s been slow starting I KNOW I’m on the right track and I’m not willing to stop until it gets to where I’d like it to be.
Sure, my friends are slowly getting married and buying homes and planting roots. I’m nowhere near ready for that. I’ve got a few more years of “living” to do before I would even consider settling down. I’m not worried about the fact that I can barely pay my bills because I’m building something of my own and if there is one thing I’ve learned it’s that fortune truly does favor the bold. Not a lot of people in the car business say they want to be a Ferrari mechanic, many are fine doing BMW or Honda or Lexus etc… I’ve also learned that, at least for me, being comfortable is boring and something I have no interest in. Sure, I could go back to doing real estate tomorrow and probably be making a decent living doing it, but that’s the farthest thing from my mind.
It seems like a lot of people my age follow their parents by example on life timeline and direction. It seems to me that each new generation will be doing things differently. PLUS, even though the economy is where it is, there are more options today then there was when my parents we my age.
That’s my two cents.

By: Balustrade Inox

Balustrade Inox — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 14:03:03 +0000

The passion it’s absolutely everything!

By: Lacobel@Gresie Faianta

Lacobel@Gresie Faianta — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:28:35 +0000

I do not know, depends on what you sacrifice! Are things just not worth to sacrifice just for passion!

By: CA Factory Direct Mobile Homes

CA Factory Direct Mobile Homes — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 01:35:53 +0000

No, It is not selfish to follow our passion.. It’s like we are just happy to follow it.
Anyway, it’s a case to case bases. if your passion can ruin others or can hurt others then that is not good of course. But if your passion is to make yourself happy and also make other happy then we don’t have to worry about that. Passions are our happiness, right? I guess i cannot say any longer beause it has already been said by other commenters.

By: Sunny Suman

Sunny Suman — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:29:13 +0000

Kirsty,
Yep! I myself thought the same way when I started pursuing my dream. I, as a kid, always wanted to be a writer but found myself on a road very much unknown when I landed in an engg college. In the second year I realized it was not my place and began looking for other areas. I continued with engg, though. After struggling through all those ‘just pass’ marks, I finished with a BTech tag. In could not leave it for I wasn’t sure what I was to go for. I went for network marketing in the third year of engg but found it stupid, actually again not my world. MBA was the easy way shown by everyone in my family. At least I could earn something enough to feed my stomach. Then I realized, it would again be the same drastic situation as was during engg yyears….hehe. Then aganst everybody’s suggestions and wishes I got into a writing job at a small salary and was happy. Everytime I felt fearful or doubtful, I got signs from God to continue. Though, everyone is still against me, I am looking ahead towards a few degrees in writiing…. Hoppe for the best; leave the rest!!!:)

Thanks Kirsty for sharing!!!

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:23:38 +0000

Everyone makes their own choices and has to deal with the consequences of them. Everyone who quits working a reliable 9-5 in order to pursue their passions has to worry about failure to some extent. Those people can always go back to the 9-5 if following their passion doesn’t work out.

I think that these people would be far more responsible and less stressed if they chose to pursue these passions on a part time basis instead of burning bridges. That makes the most sense to me. There might be some cases where you really have to do it full time, but I think most could pursue them part time if they wanted to get their feet wet. I think that a lot of these people use their new passion as an excuse to quit the job that they have hated for a while. It is easier to quit when you have a legitimate sounding excuse to use as a crutch.

In my case I began pursuing my passion of blogging and building websites for passive income on a part time basis to see if it would work out. I would much rather have just up and quit my 9-5. But, something inside me was on red alert saying that would be incredibly irresponsible. Once I started working at it though, I got consumed by it. I couldn’t wait to get to work on it in my free time. Fortunately I learned a thing or two about what I was doing so that I could become profitable. I am sad for those people who have been doing their passion for 6 years and still don’t make more than $100 per month.

In the long run I am trying to carve out a lifestyle of work where I love my work so much that it feels like play to me. I want to create a business for myself where I never ever want to retire from it. I want to live life on my terms so that I can choose to spend my time on whatever I deem to be the best use of it. That is my passion. That is my goal.

So no, I don’t think it is selfish to follow your passion. I think everyone who has the chance should give it a shot. I do think it is irresponsible to quit a well paying undesirable job when you have family to support though. Choosing to start a family should shift your primary responsibility to providing for them first. Then following your passion should be done on a part time basis without any feelings of guilt.

By: Katrina

Katrina — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:50:32 +0000

I found this post doing an internet search in Goggle “following your dreams as opposed to being responsible”.
I am a 42 yr old female. I wanted to be an artist when I was a teenager. The only thing I was ever really good at was drawing and saying exactly what was on my mind. Every good friend I ever had told me I should be in some kind of art school, but I had no idea how to make it happen or any encouragement at home to pursue it ( because my parents paid too much attention to their dreams to notice ours). So, when I graduated I joined the military then married some idiot and got pregnant and found myself single again with a baby and back home with my parents. I finally decided to go to college but felt that I needed something that would pay the bills so I chose nursing because someone I knew was a nurse and I found out she made a lot of money and I thought I was smarter than her (lol). I have been a nurse for 15+ years now. I despise it! I hate my whiney “follower” coworkers, I hate the fact that I cannot in any way use my brain and think for myself. I hate the unhealthy meds and detrimental procedures that I peddle to my patients, because I’m told to. It is so bad I get knots in my stomach every evening before I go to work. I avoid going until the last minute because I don’t want to go and consequently I am always late and present like a complete idiot flying in last minute already flustered. When my last day in a row is finished I spend the whole next day trying to de-stress and forget about the place. I put everything that reminds me of the place in a separate area of my house so I don’t even have to look at it until I have to go to work again! I even get knots looking at paystubs so I get direct deposit. I had problems being what they expected of me from the moment I graduated because it just isn’t in my nature. I wanted to quit, but my son was young and my family reminded me that I had responsibilities and I did.. so I stayed in the profession. Now I’m desperate to never set foot in a hospital again.
Call me selfish if you want to, I’m beyond it now. I don’t see how that can be, when I waited this long for my son to grow up so I could do what I wanted. I’m not selfish, I’m self preserving to want to have just a little happiness in my life! I figure if I love what I do then I will spend more time doing it. I’ll do it better and I’ll be sucessful because I will be dedicated and confident and if I have to sacrifice for it, it won’t feel like the end of the world. It will be a part of my life, not some separate thing I have to do unlike now. Now, I feel like a prostitute with this whole other life, that I try to keep separate from me. These are the consequences of not following your dreams guys.
Is this what you want? Is it how you want to live or have the people you love, live?
Follow your dreams if you can. It’s not selfish, it’s necessary.

By: Backpacker

Backpacker — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:07:31 +0000

Your passion will make you happy. So follow them – by hook or by crook. That’s my motto. It’s my life, I have all the right to enjoy my life. That’s all

By: Follow your passion | Daniel Smith

Follow your passion | Daniel Smith — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:25:34 +0000

[...] I was just reading how some people make excuses for not following their passion… and thought that I might respond in support of following your passion. [...]

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:14:05 +0000

When I was small, I wanted a Ferrari Testarossa. You see, I have red hair; when I found out that “Testarossa” literally means “red head”, I decided in the unequivocal way children can, that it was my dream car.

Then I saw one… and I thought, “hmmm… that’s a pretty ugly car” – but it was my publicly stated “dream car” so I held onto it.

Shortly after starting my first company, I sat in a Ferrari for the first time. I was so excited – finally, I was going to get what I had always wanted. As I sat myself into that fine Italian leather, it felt fantastic. For a wonderful moment… until I realized, “It’s just a car.”

It wasn’t the car that I wanted. It was the concept that the car represented. It was the feeling that I thought the car would give me. Pursuing the car was great in that it took me closer towards things that I really did want (excellence, achievement, impact, joy, passion…). But it wasn’t about the car.

The feelings of what you really want are the destinations… the surface desires are just vehicles for getting there. Make sure you get to the destination by a vehicle that suits you rather than just one that seems to work for you.

My wife is pregnant with our first child. If I don’t live my life true to my heart – giving it my all, pursuing with passion the object of my heart’s desires – what sort of role model will I be for my son? What sort of husband will I be if I am not living with the integrity of being my own man?

I’ve found that when I can focus on living in the moment and following my passions, opportunities show up that I could never have prepared or planned for… when you can put your cup of water back into the ocean, you can work with the force of the ocean. You can’t do it half-heartedly… but when I have really gone for it, I feel alive.

@Jun, when I live with passion and purpose, my Shanghainese wife lights up and showers me with love in a way that is unleashed when a woman sees her man being her knight in shining armor.

And while I wish I could bottle it, you just can’t buy that.

By: Court Reporters

Court Reporters — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:35:25 +0000

Interesting post about follow your passion. I think everybody have rights to follow your passions but we understood our responsibilities.

By: Aluminum Case

Aluminum Case — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:21:02 +0000

It is not selfish at all to follow your passion. Most of us are probably envious of what you get to accomplish. You are at a point in your life where you don’t have other responsibilities weighing you down. So by all means, live your dreams and go with the flow. There will be plenty of time later in life where you can get more serious and responsible. For now, have fun while you can.

By: NomadicNeil

NomadicNeil — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:40:34 +0000

Of course it’s being selfish. But so what? To whom am I responsible? I’m only responsible for myself.

Besides if you truly look into how the world works and where it’s going then you’ll see that to be selfish in this way (I’m not talking about hurting others or the environment) is the only way to be.

A lot of people talk about how sensible it is invest in a pension fund, buy a house, save for a wedding. But those people are just going on with the wisdom of what worked over the past 50 years. Problem is the next 50 won’t be like the last 50. A combination of environmental and demographic factors will ensure this. Anyone notice the big financial crisis that happened. I had a bunch of ‘sensible’ friends who bought houses just at the peak, now they owe more money than they can get back for selling the house. No one listened to my ‘crazy’ ideas.

Jun, I don’t want to judge what you think will be good for you but the cold hard scientifically researched fact is that most people only get a short term happiness boost from owning things and much longer satisfaction from experiences. Chances are that after the initial high of having the dream house / car / thingamabob you’ll think ‘Is this is? I thought I would be happy when I finally ‘made it’ but I’m not’. Read ‘Affluenza’ by Oliver James for the research done on this.

As far as the $100, 000 wedding, it may be natural for a woman raised on MTV and Sex and the City… but not every woman is like that.

By: Living By the Rules versus Living on Purpose | Thrilling Heroics

Living By the Rules versus Living on Purpose | Thrilling Heroics — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:17:29 +0000

[...] There has been a lot of talk about passion and responsibilities recently. My friend Jun is someone I know is really intrigued by the mobile lifestyle, but he recently wrote about the challenges of doing what he’s truly passionate about because of his responsibilities to family. Then “Nerdy Nomad” Kirsty asked if it’s selfish to reject the average lifestyle, and others’ expectations of you, to follow your passion. [...]

By: Will

Will — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:39 +0000

Anyone who is worried about how they will provide for their family if they follow their passion should look to the documentary movie “Surfwise” for inspiration. A (ivy league?) doctor becomes a complete dropout – has nine kids with his third wife. The eleven of them live in a small camper and spend their time chasing waves around North and Central America. It’s certainly not a glamorous existence, but it was a pure experience for all of them.