Do not tunnel vision on your passion!
Doing what you love is a beautiful thing – but not when it is done to the detriment of everything else
Writing is a net positive in my life. I genuinely do not know where I would be without it. It has been a worthwhile investment of my time; being able to channel my creative side and to have achievements to look back on.
How can there be a downside in this? Well, it turns out that there is one…
…and it has been manifesting in my life for the past few weeks.
A perfect excuse
Because of the value that writing adds to my life, it is hard to think of reasons to not do it. If I tell someone, “I’m going to spend a day writing”, they wouldn’t bat an eye.
In isolation, they shouldn’t. Spending a day writing is conducive to many of my goals — producing content, growing an audience, honing my craft, and becoming a step closer to an additional stream of income.
However, if I spend many days doing nothing but writing, then I will neglect other goals…which will become easy to excuse because of the aura of “productivity” that comes with writing a lot and progressing as a content creator.
It may seem obvious, but writing does not cover all bases in my life. Like with everyone else, I have other activities and duties to fulfil:
- I work out regularly for fitness, to gain muscle and strength, and to stay disciplined.
- I like to go hiking for fitness purposes, the sense of adventure, and the mental health benefits.
- I have social needs, so I converse with those in my social circles and go to meet-ups to meet new people.
- I need to keep applying for jobs and seek out opportunities to improve my prospects.
However, if I spend my days only writing, these goals cannot be reached. I find it easy to ignore them. It’s clear that I can’t just write more and throw caution to the wind with all else.
And neither should you with your passion(s).
Sadly, passion is becoming a means of procrastination. Every day I’ll tell myself, “just one more article and I will get around to it”. But I don’t. I continue writing instead. I’ve even skipped gym sessions to write. Not a bad thing to do once as a reasonable trade-off, but it is now becoming too frequent of a bad habit.
And there are worse excuses to have, sure. There are certainly worse habits to have — for one, it is better than gaming constantly (not that there’s anything inherently wrong with gaming in moderation). But unfortunately now, I’m using writing as a distraction.
An excuse to avoid my other responsibilities.
Self-improvement must be holistic
In the past, I have spoken of the benefits of having multiple hobbies. I mainly focused on having something to prop you up when a stalemate is reached in a singular hobby.
I still believe that. Growth comes from pushing your comfort zone, which is found in trying new things, and expanding your skillset in different areas.
I do not think that we as people are built to do one thing. We can become an expert at one thing, but we can become proficient at many. And a bonus is that we can have a lot of fun along the way with it. I love writing, but I also love going on new adventures. I have even done activities like origami, designing action-RPG games, and basketball in the past. Not super unusual, but definitely different from content creation.
There’s a lot to learn and discover out there. I wouldn’t have found them had I focused solely on writing. So it is not just from a productivity standpoint: it is literally in line with my humanity and how I grow.
Again, it’s why choosing to tunnel vision on a passion can be detrimental when looking at things holistically.
Don’t become distracted
There are two reasons I have written this article.
One, to challenge the conventional advice behind pursuing a passion. No, you shouldn’t pursue something relentlessly if it means sacrificing other important areas of your life. You should make time for other activities, other responsibilities, because life is about maintaining a balance.
Two, to hold myself accountable. To call myself out my excuses. No, I won’t just “do it later”. I need to act now.
This is my second article of the day. From a little while, I will slow my pace down. I will write fewer articles for a while until I have fulfilled other responsibilities. I am even going to take a day off from publishing an article tomorrow. Duties have to be completed.
Hold yourself to the same standard with what you love. Chase your dreams, but don’t tunnel vision on them. Otherwise, excuses will inevitably find a way in, just like they have done before.
