Do What You Love | A Photographer's Education
Since it's now January, which means it's a new year, we've decided to write about something near and dear to our hearts these past few years. Our education continues with a book we've recently read called The Passion Test and the realization that we must always do what we love.Over the past couple years we've been on an incredible journey to find our true passions in life and act from the heart (you know, following your gut and all that stuff). We've moved, we've quit jobs and we've started a business. Through it all…all the decisions, all the pros and cons lists, all the date nights that turned into strategic talks, all the uncertainties and second guesses…we've tried to keep one thing in mind: do we love it?It's true, life is short. Already we've seen a quarter of ours pass by in a blink and we want to make sure that each day of our lovely lives is spent with as much happiness and love as we can muster. Are there days when we cry? (Marissa)…yes. Are there days when we're frustrated? Absolutely. But we constantly remind each other to get out of that funk and into a happy state to enjoy each day. A huge part of having daily happiness was finding passion and yes, love, in our careers. We felt that since you spend most of your day/week/year working we may as well choose work we love to do!
We love photography. We love capturing moments of someone's life that will never be seen again otherwise. Did we take a huge risk to follow this passion and do what we love? Definitely. But we know that the happiness we feel each day at "work" is well worth it. We're not saying that each person should quit their job and follow their passion, because let's be honest, you still need to do something that will earn you an income so that you can support yourself financially. (Trust us when we say we made some big sacrifices in that department in order to do what we love.) The trick is to do what you love while also figuring out how to have it pay you too!We've found there are two ways that, if combined, can help you do what you love: 1. If you love what you do enough, people will pay you to do it. 2. If you educate yourself, practice, watch videos and read each day to become an expert at what you love, people will pay you to do it.
Our goal is to continue doing what we love (which means probably finding someone else to do our taxes because we really do NOT love that). We each have a list of loves or passions that remind us of where we are, why we're here, and where we want to be in the future in terms of our career, life, family, etc. If there is something on our love list we must find a way to do it. If there is something on our hate list, we must find a way to either pay someone else to do it or try to get rid of it all together.
We've found when you're making room in your life for everything you love by taking away things you don't the universe mysteriously figures out a way to squeeze in all that you do love.
Lesson Learned: Do what you love. ~Erik & Marissa