Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.

I believe this is a true statement, but I don’t think it’s an objective human truth.

Let’s talk about why…

So, to do what you love, you first have to understand what love is. Do you?

I certainly don’t. At least, not in a way I can quantify and articulate for someone else.

Then, you’ve got to find yourself not to sound cliché. Have you? I certainly haven’t, but it’s something I’m working on. As I do, though, I find more and more that the more you discover about yourself, the more there is to learn. In which case, can you ever truly find yourself?

Assuming you can, after you find yourself, you then need to love yourself - mind, body and spirit - which in and of itself is an incredibly difficult experience - at least it is for me because vulnerability is something I struggle with.

Only once you’ve discovered, known and loved yourself can you truly know what it is you love in a realm that exists outside yourself.

One thing I do know about love, and perhaps you can agree, is that love is work. While it may sneak up on you suddenly, it’s still work. You’ve got to participate in the actions around maintaining and growing actively said love.

Very few people are fortunate enough to actually find something they love, and even fewer people are able to turn that into a career.

I know it’s all “up in the air”, in a sense, so I’ll go a little deeper here and use myself as a reference point.

So, for the greater part of my life, I was raised to be a medical doctor until, one day, it all suddenly changed, and I was now permitted to do anything I wanted.

At that point in my life, my entire identity was built on the idea that I would be a doctor. I couldn’t fathom the concept of “anything I wanted”. I don’t remember having a dream or aspiration that didn’t start with becoming a doctor, so the notion of “anything” was quite terrifying. I learned at that moment that I knew nothing about anything.

I knew, all of a sudden, I was responsible for my journey, and if it didn’t work out, there was no one to turn to but myself.

But who was that? Who was “myself”?

What did I want?
What did I love?

I’ll admit, I’ve been winging it for some time. I got lucky and discovered that I’m good at writing and storytelling, so I just ran with it.

And I very much still am - just running with it.

But do I love my job?

Nope.

Do I love what I do?

Nope.

However…

I love what being a writer and my job does for me.

Since realising I know nothing, I’ve learned that I may love learning - and being a writer exposes me to many opportunities to learn more - and I feel like I can’t get enough of it.

And regarding the job, it’s a good job, a great one even, but the parts that I enjoy the most aren’t the job itself - it’s the learning and knowledge gained through doing my job.

I believe you don’t have to do what you love or love what you do.

I believe it’s okay not to know what you want to do with the rest of your life.

I believe it’s okay not to know what you love.

And if you don’t know who you are… that’s okay too.

It’s all okay - as long as you’re making a conscious effort to find out.

But hey, I’m young, so maybe I don’t have it all figured out yet - and maybe that’s okay too.

I’m still learning who I am.

I’m still learning love.

I’m still learning to love who I am.

All I know right now is that I love learning - and learning to love is difficult, but it might be worth it.

I’ll let you know when I know.