TrueToYourself Inc.

Okay, so a friend of mine, Saron, wrote this amazing article about his passion (hip-hop) titled Hip Hop? Not in my Office!. The article details his concern for being true to his passion while entering Corporate America. How do you serve your creativity and still manage to pay the bills? I feel like we, more than any other generation, are struggling with this issue. I think that our parents made the choice that seemed to serve a higher good - be responsible, choose job security. Thus sacrificing their creative drive (for those that had it). It wasn't an easy choice, but they made it.

After reading Saron's article I thought to myself "How could one serve another by denying their own creative interest?". And came up with the only answer I could think of - they can't. Whatever it is that is your passion, whatever drives you, whatever you wake up mornings excited about and go to sleep evenings dreaming about - let that be the defining factor in what you do. You will not serve anyone, especially not yourself, by denying your passion and creative interests. Why do it then? Why does it happen? Is it harder to do the things we feel we "need" to do and defer (or deny) the things we have a desire to do? Or is it harder to take the risk to do what you desire and have a passion for and not concern yourself with the perceived "need"? And what is really defined as a need?

Well, in my opinion, my defined needs are doing the things that drive me, the things that give me purpose and a sense of accomplishment. However, if you ask certain people (i.e., my parents) my defined needs are the things that allow me to be independent and pay the bills. I believe, through fear, we lead ourselves to believe that we cannot be well supported by our passions, especially those of us who have a passion outside of what drives Corporate America. I also believe that the two ideas of what my defined needs are should not be in conflict. But there is priority. My passion should bring me prosperity, and I expect it to. When lined up with my purpose, it will. I don't believe that what you have a passion and purpose for should conflict with what you have a need to do. In fact, I know they are directly in line with each other. Once put into practice, it makes the act of doing what is needed easier, because it doesn't deny what you have a desire to do. It takes integrity and dedication to get to that point for those of us who aren't there currently, but it's well worth the effort.

So I'm going to get started on putting it in practice, because I'm worth it. I am also ready to help anyone else whose ready to get started as well. And I'm all about helping Awesomeness Inc. get underway, and if you don't know what I'm talking about you need to read the article!

Question: Do you think it's possible to do what you're passionate about and gain prosperity from that? Or will it have to be something you do on the side and after your 9-5?