Why making passion a profession can be a bad idea

You must be wondering when everyone is screaming on the top of their lungs 'Make your passion a profession' why am I pointing the other way around? I always believe in looking at both sides of a coin before making any decision. It won't certainly make your decision or opinion neutral but it'll surely give you idea of what should you choose.

Why turning your passion into a profession can be a bad idea? To explain this let me put forth an example. I've named it 'The Battery Theory'. Imagine your life is a real world 3D simulation and each of your skill has a meter. If you use it too much, it'll drain out the battery quickly. At the same time if the recharge rate exceeds your usage, it won't bother you much as your battery will always have sufficient juice for your needs. But what if the recharge rate isn't up to the mark of your requirement? That's when the problems begin. Yes, problems and not just a singular problem. This issue will be at the root causing a lot of issues where you'd feel that it isn't really related to this root cause, but it in fact is related.

Let's see what Megha is doing these days. She studied medicine just because it felt the right path to choose as per almost everyone around her. But her passion, her heart was deep somewhere else. She wanted to pursue arts and paint beautiful moments on a canvas. But peer pressure and family guidance claimed something else. She finished medicine and is now a resident at a place but still somewhere in her heart question always pops up. What if she had made her passion, her profession? She sighs and gets back to painting a beautiful sunset before she getting a call to deal with an emergency.

On the other side, Ravi dropped out of Engineering which was deemed as a career path by his well wishers. Getting inspired from numerous sources he decided to quit engineering and started making animated videos for a website. The instant flow of cash and fame that he received brought him a sense of validation that he was correct. While everyone around him worried about this future, he looked down upon them for suggesting him a wrong path. In a couple of years, where his batch mates who had finished the degree where still struggling to find jobs, he was leading a team for a new marketing campaign.

 Both Ravi and Megha used to share their stories with people on social media. Looking at that, Satish who was struggling to clear the medical entrance exam, decided to be like Ravi and drop the whole path itself and started uploading song covers on youtube. Just like Ravi, the fame was instant. People enjoyed his covers, requested songs for the covers. Life just went by and a few months later, he disappeared from the website. People commented and requested songs, some who knew him personally texted him on personal communication platforms.

But Satish didn't reply anyone. Satish was stuck in a place where he was unable to create anything new. At the best he could replicate the original songs. He didn't wish to do that anymore. He wanted to proceed ahead and add his tit bits in the covers and someday make an original as well. But all efforts were in vain.

He thought it'd be a case of burnout. He took a break and tried some other tips after searching them online. But all efforts were in vain. He still felt that he wasn't upto the mark he should've been. That constant thought of not improving enough was already showing effect on his channel.

People who used to follow him regularly constantly supported him no matter what but the view counts and comments told a different story. He felt that everything was crumbling down in front of his eyes. Taking a break was a huge mistake, he thought. He began pushing himself to the point where things started taking a toll on his mental health. That's where he had to draw a line.

Looking at these stories, do you think passion can actually make a good profession?  I feel your job should be something which you can do even when you're not in a mood, something which you can take up even while being under certain stress.

Let's be real. Life's not always going to be all ups and no downs. During those downs, you should be able to keep your life steady as that'd give you some hope or motivate you to get out of tough times. What would happen if you lost your job in a tough time? It'll be injury over another. Some might just break down.


What do you think? Is really making passion a profession is a good idea? Please share your thought in comments.


Note: I am no way a mental health professional. This blog post isn't a solution or prescription or advice for someone who is facing issues with respect to mental health. Please get in touch with a professional to get help that you'd need. This article is just a compilation of my thoughts.

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