If I could be guaranteed to make a living from my favorite hobby, I would be one happy camper! I would write to my heart’s content, blathering on about this topic or that. I would explore various themes and compose poetry and children’s books.
I would examine my diverse interests and expand my knowledge of them, then I would write about what I’ve learned. In fact, I already do these things, but certainly not to the extent that I would like, after all, a full time career is fairly time consuming.
I imagine working on a collection of short stories, possibly doing some memoir writing, and of course developing at least one beloved (and incidentally extremely marketable) children’s book character. Marmalade the Marmot, anyone? No? Sherice the shrew? Or perhaps Ibsen the Ibis? There must be a story (or better yet, a series of stories), for these wonderful potential characters, although I’ve been told to avoid alliterative names. I guess Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Elmer the Elephant got lucky.
Long story short I would write, write, write. In fact, this writing thing really has become much more than a hobby. It’s a passion that is beginning to take on a life of its own, and I’m loving every minute of the ride it’s taking me on.
Ok, I know this is totally cheating, but I’m going to go for it anyway. If I could have anything it would be a happy life. See what I did there? Happy life encompasses it all, doesn’t it? For example, I would know that my son is headed in the right direction toward a bright future. I would have good health and so would my loved ones. I would have a rewarding career, or, if my financial situation allowed it, a rewarding series of pastimes. Of course I wouldn’t worry about not having enough money for bills, saving for a rainy day, or scary medical tests. My loving relationship would continue to grow and flourish. If I could have this elusive happy life, I would have no worries.
I know it’s pie in the sky nonsense, and that into every life a little rain must fall, or something like that, but it’s nice to think about. It’s nice to dream of a world without illness and loss. It’s nice to think about a future free of challenges and obstacles. The reality, though, is that we all have those things in our lives, to a greater or lesser degree. The real test of a person is in how they react to all that stuff. Oh, I know that’s not an original thought, and the scholarly readers in the audience will be quick to supply quotes proving that I’m just rehashing old news (and not terribly eloquently either), but I do believe it’s true. So maybe the gift isn’t in having it all, maybe the gift is in the lessons learned when we don’t.
Now how is that for a big question? I’ve decided to give Dean Bocari’s daily passion prompts a go. I know I won’t do them every day, but they will be posted for the next 39 days, so the challenge is there. I may be a bit challenge happy at the moment.
Back to the question at hand. What would I do if I knew I could not fail? How to even go about conceiving of such a situation? My immediate thoughts go to my son and raising him to be the kind of man that he ought to be. What could I do to help ensure his future success? Maybe I could take a small investment and parlay it into a small fortune of the type that might pay for a top notch education? If I couldn’t fail, I might as well do my “investing” in Vegas and have a whale of a time doing it, too. But financial security is no guarantee of success.
Having the money for an upper echelon education doesn’t prepare one for its rigors. Money can’t teach a strong work ethic, tenacity, creativity, risk taking, and people skills. In fact, in my experience, it’s those strengths that allow people to acquire financial gains. Let’s face it, money is the effect, not the cause of strong character traits. So while I would love to amass a small fortune, just to take the edge off a little, it isn’t my goal in and of itself.
Instead of a focus on pure financial gain, I would want my “can’t fail” risk to involve personal growth that would serve as an example to said son, while having the delightful benefit of providing the aforementioned nest egg. So what it comes down to is this, if I knew I couldn’t fail I would take a year off from my current career and focus on living a creative life. I would write and sew and paint. I would hike and swim and travel. I would create poetry, take photos, and visit theaters near and far. I would get healthy once and for all, experimenting with new recipes, hiking new trails, and learning to use my body in new ways. Maybe I would dance or box or do yoga. Perhaps I would try Zumba or white water rafting. During that year I would record my experiences and my thoughts on them. Then I would publish that memoir. Naturally Oprah would love it, and it would become an instant best seller.
Oh I know, the world can live without my self-absorbed prattling, but there are moments, flashes really, when I feel like I have something important to say. Sometimes I’m able to get it down in the way I imagine, and other times I’m not, but I still like to believe that there is an audience for me. There are others like me fighting the battles I’m fighting, reinventing themselves every day, and challenging themselves to be their best. If I knew I couldn’t fail, I would be honored to walk among them and be their champion.
BulgingButtons 