I’m a writer who spends the day combining a bunch of words to create somewhat meaningful sentences for the content I do. The thing is, writing has always been my love. I’ve written stories way back when I was just 6 years old (I’m about to turn 23 now) and creating stories had been my passion every since. Right now, I write for wheninmanila.com and for a bunch of hotel websites. It’s pretty cool, really, but sometimes, I go through these 7 stages of existential crisis as I journey through the corporate life gambling on what I truly love to do.
1. Excitement
Finally! Work is play! I mean, you’re going to do what you love the most, right? So working won’t feel like work, right? That’s why you took this kind of job in the first place! Yes, it would all feel like this in the first time. There’s that strong excitement about finally pursuing an income-generating career that would mostly feel like play.
2. Easy Breezy
Here comes the actual work! It’s okay, you can handle it. This is your expertise, after all! And the one you love doing the most. The confidence level at this stage is overflowing and you’re sure that you can handle the work influx. If it’s something that you love to do, then at this stage, you’d feel confident enough to be able to do everything well.
3. Turning Point
Woops. It’s not so easy, after all. At this point, things start to get a little difficult. The workload is piling up, there are tons of things needed to be done, tons of deadlines to meet, and it seems like there aren’t enough brain cells to deal with everything.
4. Dread
Suddenly, you’re wondering if you did the right thing. You’re wondering if it was indeed a wise move to pursue passion as career. You’re wondering if they were really right about not feeling the pressures of work if you love what you’re doing. So many questions start to cloud your mind and these questions sometimes even lead to self-doubt. (See also: 10 Things to Keep in Mind When You Think You’re Not Good Enough)
5. Point of No Return
You’re wearing out. You’re dying down. The self-doubt starts to overpower your confidence and things aren’t the same as before. Your skills are collapsing. Your output is suffering. You have more breaks than productive hours. The influx of work is eating you up and what was once an enthusiastic outlook on pursuing your passion as career is now becoming questionable.
6. Pick Up
You rest. You practice the pause. You pause for a while, think about why you’re doing things in the first place, think about where things are going wrong, and you take a break. Assess. Then, you pick up the puzzle pieces and allow them to fall back together. You see the bigger picture. You remember why you started, you remember where you’re headed. Refreshed, you stand and get back up to go for it again. (See also: A Message For When You’re About To Go Beyond Your Comfort Zone)
7. Love
At the end of the day, despite the hardships, the internal breakdowns, and the countless crippling self-doubt, you still love what you do. You still find joy in turning your passion into an income-generating job. You realize that you only need to rest once in a while and during that rest, the love for what you do prevails. At the end of the day, you get back up and own your job because, hey, you’re damn good at it!
Did you turn your passion to career, too? How was your experience?
