Life Choices or Career Choices?

I’ve just been watching a video that a friend linked on Facebook; it is a man talking about how, when students come to him and ask what they should do with their lives, he tells them to do what they would do if money was no object. Apparently most express a wish to be a writer, or a painter, or something similar where income isn’t exactly guaranteed. To me, this seems like the least helpful piece of advice a University leaver could possibly be given.

If there is one thing in this life you need, it’s money. Yes it’s depressing and I could be accused of devaluing life – all those people, relationships, experiences that I’m essentially saying aren’t as important as money, but think about it. If you have no money you have no food, and all the love and experiences in the world won’t put a meal in your stomach.

We all have some sort of dream, and unfortunately not a lot of us will realise those dreams. You could argue that putting your entire being into reaching that goal means that you’re more likely to achieve it, but let’s take being a professional writer as an example.

My dream, my aspiration, whatever you want to call, it is to write. I have been writing since I was about 8, and I maintain numerous blogs, reviews and so on to keep my writing alive. I have some stuff published in books, but it’s not exactly at the same level as JK Rowling. If I’d taken the approach recommended by the man in the video, I would have come out of Uni and written, all day every day. This sounds absolutely amazing, there’s this fantastic image in my head of an isolated house in the middle of a wood, maybe with a quiet lake with the sun shimmering down. I lounge around with stacks of paper covered in my tiny scrawled writing, creating the masterpieces that will awe and inspire the world.

But you know what? It wasn’t going to happen when I left Uni. I had a grand total of zero money, two degrees, and no job. I was unemployed for around nine months and I spent the majority of that time writing – both my own projects and some freelance projects for businesses. And it was immensely miserable. Without money I had no choice but to stay at home, I barely made rent on job seekers, and my partner had to pay for everything else, I was completely dependent. This isn’t a ‘woe is me’ moment, this is a moment of me doing what I absolutely love doing and hating every day of waking up and not having any money. Maybe this is shallow, but I’ll come to terms with that. You know what happens when you have no money? You can’t make rent, you can’t buy food, you can’t go out, no phone, no presents for birthdays/Christmas, you can’t pay water or gas bills. It’s so easy to forget about all of those expenses, until you have no money.

Then I got my current job, and everything is better as a direct consequence of having an income. Rent isn’t a problem, I can buy everything I want and more, I can visit people and places without struggle, I’m not a dependent but instead an equal. No one will ever convince me that money can’t bring happiness, money opens every door imaginable and yes you may still be alone but that’s probably more to do with you as a person than actual happiness.

Don’t get me wrong, you can be happy and comfortable – if you earn enough to cover all the important things, you can live a very happy and nice life. But the man on the video encouraged people to ignore money entirely, and this isn’t a healthy decision. The amount of people who actually become a successful enough writer or painter to live on just that income is negligible.

In my opinion, work as hard as you have to in order to live the lifestyle you want to. If you want just enough to get by, then do so. If you want a mansion and classic cars, then work your arse off to get there. And do what you love, your passion, in every free minute that you have. Never rely on your passion to get you an income, nurture it and push it as much as you can in every free moment.  If it works out, then fantastic, well done, take that opportunity and make it your life. But if it doesn’t, and this is the truth, have more to fall back on than just failed dreams.