One of the things I’ve come to realize is that humans will have to accept the undeniable fact that the things you want to do will not necessarily be what the world wants from you. And then, even more heartbreaking, the thing the world actually wants from you may not be what makes you happy and fulfilled. This is the big conundrum we find ourselves in as humans, and that’s why we find ourselves doing the things we don’t enjoy simply because we don’t have a choice.
For many of us, we have skills and talents that we want to put to use, however, the world just seems not to really care about them. There are people all over the world who are using that exact skill and talent to make a lot of money, they are renowned in their respective fields. Yet, when we try to show off the same skill, it’s almost as if we’re just wasting our time because nobody sees us.
However, that’s the main thing here. Because if the thing we love to do isn’t paying us enough to keep the lights on, then we’d have to do something else. Whether you like it or not, passion can’t put food on the table or pay the kid’s tuition. If your skill is dancing, and you want to share that with the world, dancing alone will not be able to cater to your needs. It has to be a skill that brings in money.
But because we can’t all have it good, we have to make do. We have to take up jobs doing things we don’t enjoy or particularly like, but then if we don’t do them, how then would we eat? And that’s how we find ourselves unwittingly joining the rat race, chasing money, but we only ever get just enough to see to our needs, but never enough to actually make the difference that we would like.
And as life goes on and we begin to grow, it gets tougher even though we earn more. We get married and have kids, and these come with upgrades. Buying cars and furniture, things that consume money and do nothing to bring in more. We have to work more to keep up the lifestyle, it’s not easy, but if we’re being realistic, it’s not looking like we might ever have the chance to do those things we actually wanted to do. How would we do it? When we are always so busy with work and family?
And so, slowly but surely, we let that part of us fade away. Like the darkness at dawn. Soon, “I can dance” will become “I used to dance”, on and on it goes. We can’t let go of what could have been if only the world had been more receptive to our skills and talents when we were in a position to share them. Not now that we don’t have much to offer.
But then, the truth is that it’s never too late to do something new with our lives. It’s never too late to return to the passion of our youth and share it with the world. These limitations are placed on us by ourselves. We can do or not do something only by our very own will. Nothing else.
This post was inspired by a clip I saw on TikTok of two old men who were rapping really well, but like young guys. And in Gen-Z slang. Almost all their videos on their platforms rake in millions of views. They have fans who stream their songs on Spotify and other music platforms, and they also go to concerts. Who knows, maybe when they were younger, they tried to rap, but the world didn’t care about them. But now, everyone is listening.
Life may happen, forcing you to take a different path. But it’s never too late to do the very thing you’ve always wanted to do. Just do it!
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