What if money was no object? What would you do?
Doing what you desire, becoming a master of it and then making money from it makes sense.
Doing something you hate to perpetuate that life journey doesn’t make any sense.
If money is the only goal then life is pretty empty and pointless. I often think of a quote from World War I poet Wilfred Owen. The line is about a group of young soldiers who try in vain to revive their fallen friend on a snowy battlefield, with the help of the sun. I read it at 16 and have never forgotten it and it often comes to mind when I’m doing something that feels pointless:
—O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth’s sleep at all?
Do you ever ask: What’s the point?
It’s a question I find myself asking often. Even though I left teaching several years ago to take up a full-time career as a writer, as I work on a new novel today I ask again—what’s the point?
Is this really how I want to spend my time?
Occasionally I think I need to get a ‘real job’. A job that helps others, a job that gives me a sense of corporate belonging, a job that makes a difference.
I think once we look past the dreams of a big house, expensive clothes, first class travel and sloth, there’s something in all of us that calls from within. It calls us to what we were made to desire, what we were meant to do with our lives, what we were created for. That’s when I think, this IS what I was created for. Writing, and hopefully inspiring others to live their best lives, is what I was created for.
Today I’m back at my desk toiling away on a 45 000 word deadline for my next YA novel, while my adult novel sits on the back burner (yet again) and I’m happy. Happy to be sitting here and enjoying the privilege of writing. The privilege of speaking through my writing. The privilege of doing what I do and not being confined in the rat race of thinking, What’s the point? and coming up empty. Every. Single. Day.
So, let me ask you again, if money was no object, what would you do?
Alan Watts was a British-born philosopher who dropped some seriously wise words on doing what you love during your life and not settling for anything just because there’s a paycheck attached. Here’s a great video that will make you want to live larger, smarter, and happier.
