Your Passion Does Not Need to Be Your Career
- Charlotte E. Craig
- Nov 22, 2022
- 4 min read
This was a realization that I came to early on in 2020 when I was placing so much pressure on my twenty-two-year-old self to write and publish novels for a living. I felt that because I loved writing stories I needed to pursue this kind of work. I felt that if I didn’t do this that I’d be unaccomplished, a failure, and, most of all, that I wouldn’t be faithfully using this gift that God has given me.
Soon, I noticed that these were lies that the world whispered that I had slowly embraced as truth. We live in a culture right now that idolizes hustle and hard work. We have become consumed by the idea that we need to make a name for ourselves, which leads to equating our identity with our work.
As creatives, we tend to adopt this mindset and, in doing so, we have created a false assumption that if you are not pursuing your art full-time that you will never “make it", that you are wasting your time and talents, or that by not monetizing your creativity that you are somehow a lesser creative and can have no claim to the title "artist".
In Christian culture, we have implicitly added an extra layer to this false ideology by affirming that if you are not pursuing your creativity full-time that you are wasting the talents and abilities that God has gifted you with. We mistakenly believe, whether we realize it or not, that if we are not pursuing our art as our career then we are not responding to are calling to create.
This is SO untrue.
But it is a belief that I have found myself and many other creatives operating from. The fruit that accepting this belief is a false sense of pressure, an unhealthy view of our identity, and a toxic understanding of our relationship to work in all the forms it takes in our lives. And all of this surmounts to limiting the creative in a multitude of ways.
There are a few truths that can be applied to this topic, but, today, I want to focus on one and that is this:
Your art does not need to be your career.
Your hobby does not need to become a side-hustle.
Your creativity does not need to be monetized.
God has given us all many gifts to use for his glory, to serve others, and to enjoy. Your art does not need to be monetized to have value in your life or to impact others.
And there are so many ways that you can use your creativity to bless others.
Maybe it is to pursue a career in the arts and entertainment industry. You could use it even to make a bit of extra cash to help support yourself and your family.
Perhaps you have found ways to serve others in your community or your local church. You make music that uplifts or encourages others to think deeply about certain issues. You write beautiful messages to family members on their birthday. You operate visual art workshops for young students in your neighbourhood. You lead worship at your church every Sunday or in your small group.
Or perhaps your response to your call to create is far more simple. Maybe you create simply because you love it and are passionate about it...and that is a valid reason to keep creating. One of the reasons you love it could be because God often meets you in that time of creativity and being artistic in solitude, without any gain or expectations, is a way that you can enjoy his presence in a special way.
There are so many ways that we can still pursue our call to create without the pressure of making our art our job.
It was in the summer of 2020 when was watching a lecture series by the New York Times bestselling fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson, and he coined an analogy that struck me.
He told his audience to imagine someone who enjoys playing basketball. No one ever asks someone who plays basketball in their free time if they are going to pursue a career in the NBA. It’s merely something that this person loves to do in their spare time.
The same could and should be said for writers and other creatives…but it’s not. Instead, there is pressure to make something we love more than just a hobby or a way to serve others.
But there is an abundance of freedom and joy that can be found in the creative process by allowing your art to simply be something you're passionate about. Even if you do choose to make your art a source of income, permitting yourself to still create because it brings you and/or others joy will liberate you from the pressure that comes with feeling as though you have to use your creativity only in a singular way.
Then, if your career as an independent artist or an author does not take off, you can still enjoy and use this gift that God has given you.
For those of us who follow Jesus, there is an added layer of hope and liberation that is found in the creative process when we unpack this lie and it comes from returning to the core purpose of our work, creativity, and, ultimately, our lives.
Our purpose is to know God and to make Him known. It's to glorify the name of Jesus Christ in all that we do. This can be done in the spotlight or the solitude of your bedroom. It can be achieved with or without any kind of monetary gain.
So, for the artist who has not “made it”, who works a full-time job that they also love and makes beautiful artwork on the side, or for the busy student or parent who loves to write stories when they're not producing essays or keeping up with their children...
Your art still has value.
Your creativity is not wasted.
Your worth is not defined by your work, but by the almighty God who loves you and created you to create as another way to bless others and enjoy His presence.
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