This is Why People Don’t Want to See Creatives Succeed

How many times have you been told not to quit your day job?

I can’t keep track of the number of times well-meaning folks let me know what a stupid move it would be to quit my day job to pursue writing full time.

To listen to them, you’d think they were all deeply invested in keeping me safe and financially secure. They’re not breaking my heart for them, they’re solicitously doing it for me. They’re stomping on my dreams not because they’re callous, but because they just don’t want to see me get hurt.

Quick disclaimer: I haven’t actually quit my nine to five, for a number of sensible reasons. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying to put me off it.

Call me a cynic, but I genuinely don’t believe people are so keen to stop me from chasing my dreams because they care about my fiscal responsibility. No, I think there might be a deeper, underlying reason.

Everyone has a passion.

Seriously — even if you’re reading this right now and you’re thinking I’ve never in my life been passionate about a single thing! I guarantee you’ve felt passion. And humans, we’re creative. We have a whole half of our brain dedicated to coming up with creative solutions.