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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think a lot of the Type A overachievers in DC look at me this way. I have an impressive graduate degree but never lived up to its potential, largely because I just don't like the field it is in and wish I'd just gotten an MFA in writing and become an English teacher like I wanted. I was told by everyone that was a waste of my intelligence and that is never have any money. My younger self was a people pleaser so I got the more impressive (to them) degree but never felt invested and have drifted through my career.

I'm mid-40s now and financially stable but not wealthy, doing a job no one is particularly impressed by. However, I'm a great parent and have a happy life with my family. I *am* a frustrated writer and wish I had more time to debate to that. I've published a few short stories but that's it. I still plug away at it though. Publishing a novel remains my greatest professional dream.

In DC, I think a lot of people view me as a hopeless dreamer. This used to get to me but now I see that plenty of the people who would judge me that way aren't particularly happy or fulfilled. A lot of highly successful careers start to crust over at my age and, aside from the money, don't look so good. Lawyers who still work 70 hour weeks in the 50s and can't take vacations with their kids because of client demands. Corporate careers that feel soulless and empty -- you'll find 20-somethings convinced their start up or corporate employer is going to change the world, people my age know better and understand it's just a job.

So the main downside is that it's hard to get rich as a drifter. But as a hard and reliable worker, I've always had work and I'm not broke either. I am rich in the things you realize in middle age matter most -- kids, good marriage, good friends, art, intellectual.stumulation.[/quote]

I think you are actually the counter example, you didn’t follow a passion but you worked hard and you are doing well. I am talking more about a situation where you would follow your passion for writing yet not put in much effort and either be a low performer or move on to another passion. But one thing you made me think about - being a not so high performer still doesn’t mean one can’t have a job! -OP [/quote]

PP here. It would have been better for me to follow my passion, even if I'd never succeeded as a writer. I had a plan (HS English teacher) for making money and being stable, but I wanted an education focused on writing to improve my skills. This was practical but others in my life (parents, siblings, peers) believed I was destined for some impressive corporate/white-collar career and really dissuaded me. As a result I compromised my goals and essentially "failed" at my chosen profession.

I would have been better if failing as a writer (which I have done anyway) but focusing my life on that passion, with a perfectly respectable backup job I know I would have been fine with. I wasted time and effort on a career I just do not care about to please others, and I regret that.

So yes, I'm the opposite of what you are talking about, but I wish I was exactly what you are talking about. Pushing people with artistic passions into fields that aren't artistic, just because these people seem smart, is not a path to success and happiness. For me it's been a path to mediocrity with no more financial pay off than my "passion" plan. Judging people with passions just because they might not succeed at it incorrectly assumes that their non-passion options will lead to more success. I have not found that to be true.[/quote]

OP here. I am not against following a passion, I did it myself when I was young but I tried to be the really good at it, put in effort and I liked doing the regular work that surrounds that passion. What puzzles me is a young person who claims he likes to write for example, takes a creative writing class in community college and then proceeds to be lazy with drafts and edits, gets a low grade, then either moves on to something else or - much more puzzling - takes creative writing 2 the next year! Why?! If you like writing why don’t you want to put in effort? Yet I see this around me. What is this?! [/quote]

I want to know too.

Lack of self discipline? 
Spoilt brat?
Lazy?
Adhd or asd? 
Naive and lack of common sense? [/quote]

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