Why Don't You Get a Real Job?

How many of us have had that question hammered into our consciousness? I would bet that most musicians, artists, actors, writers, missionaries, athletes, entrepreneurs, stay-at-home parents, and inventors have all had to deal with this question. After we are successful and the big money and fame is rolling in, then everyone says how brave and tenacious we were. After we change the world with our art, our incredibly successful children, our spiritual teachings, our new ideas and business concepts, then people say we are “lucky” to be one of the chosen few as if we didn’t really work all that hard to get to that successful place. Until that day when we are fabulously wealthy and our industry grants us superstar status, we are deemed dreamers, unrealistic, illogical, and without real direction as we diligently toil away at our work until it’s worthy of acceptance as a “real job.” They see us as an overnight success or as complete failures. Until we are winners, our work is deemed as a hobby, a luxury, or as simply frivolous.

Look into the history of our famous artists, Olympic athletes, inspirational novelists, and others of this nature. Unless they are born into extreme wealth, they typically have a benefactor who puts a roof over their head, feeds them, and subsidizes their efforts until they can get to a place where their work is able to pay for itself. Many famous painters, sculptors, classical music composers, and such were never acknowledged during their own lifetimes for the work that they did. They were independently wealthy or someone paid their way. Sometimes benefactors do it because they have a simple love of the arts, a love of athletic games, a love of good books, and such. Other times they do it from an investment perspective. Should the person develop their craft to a point that it is profitable, then they are promised a percentage of the proceeds. In either case, a benefactor typically will support the artists, missionaries, and athletes that show the most promise.

The benefactor and the artists have one thing in common, they both see the world as a better place for the gifts and talents that are shared. A woman who works two jobs and raises the kids so that her husband can focus all of his attention on his entrepreneurial efforts is doing so because she truly believes in him, in his business, and that some day it will all pay off financially. Even if he fails, she believes in the dream and will most likely cheer him on to try again. Parents will pay a fortune to get the coaching and training their child needs, if they show the potential and passion of a future gold medallist. Why? Because they believe in the dream.

Do not forget the gifts of those who would give their gifts to the world even if it means that they will live in poverty for doing so. The couple that chooses to live off one income so that their children can have one stay-at-home parent is making that decision with their eyes wide open. The folks who travel into Africa to give aid to the starving and the dying do not see their lack of monetary gain as important enough to quit. The entrepreneur lives on a shoestring budget so that he can create a business knowing that the world is a better place for the goods and services that his company will provide. There is a spiritual lesson and a truly heartfelt joy that comes from knowing that giving our gift is so much more important than driving a large SUV while wearing the latest fashions. Yes, we would have liked it if a wealthy benefactor had shown up in our lives, but their absence will not stop us from moving forward with our dreams.

But what does it matter if we have artists, actors, athletes, and such in the world? Isn’t it all technically just a pleasant luxury of life? Do we really need sporting events, rock concerts, art on our walls, Broadway plays, and books that are not factual scientific textbooks? Yes! Yes, we do NEED them. These things keep us sane. Imagine for a moment what the world would be like without any music. Imagine the world without any movies, plays, and fairy tales. Imagine the world without mystery novels, romance novels, self-help books, autobiographies, or children’s storybooks. Imagine the world void of art, beauty, fashion, rose gardens, water fountains, birdbaths, and wind chimes. Imagine the world without entrepreneurs, where everyone works for large well-established organizations and you can never break free of that rule. Imagine a world without priests, ministers, rabbis, monks, nuns, and other spiritual healers because they cannot PROVE that their work is actually a necessity. Imagine a world without comedians, clowns, and toy makers. In a world where everyone went out and got a ‘real job,’ these things would be no more. Imagine a world where the only ‘work’ that was acceptable was work that was practical, logical, and earned a stable income.

We would drift into such a darkness of the soul. We would sink into a horrible depression without these beautiful gifts of the heart. Throughout the history of mankind, we have entertained ourselves with the arts, athletics, spiritual and philosophical debates, and with forms of laughter. It is through these creative arts, intellectual arts, fine arts, and physical arts that we maintain the sanity of the human race. Laughter is the best medicine. Happiness and a joyful heart are the purest of spiritual gifts that the universe has to offer.

We are not born to become super logical serious analytical worker bees. We are here to manifest the spirit of love and inner-connectivity throughout the world. We are here to design and play at building cultures and belief systems. We are not here to be some greedy corporation’s salesmen, paper pushers, and clones of those in the next cubicle over. We are here to be the expression of the human spirit in its greatest form. We do that through the arts. Not everyone is called to be an artist, a musician, an athlete, a minister, an actor, a stay-at-home parent, or an entrepreneur. However, everyone does benefit from the fact that they are here leading us to the belief that there is something inspirational out there. There is something more to life than just work. There is also love, beauty, mental health, spiritual health, and laughter.

I cannot write music, make films, run a 4-minute mile, or ice skate like a ballerina, but I am healed, inspired, motivated, and touched by the passion of those who can. What a dark and cold place this would be without those passionate ones who refuse to get a ‘real job?’ The world really is a better place because these passionate artists, motivational athletes, and inspirational ministers chose to break free of the mainstream normal lives that others would have expected of them. Somewhere in the hearts and souls of these people, they had to find the answer to that question…. “Why don’t I get a real job? Because the world needs my gift as much as I need to give it.”

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