Living your true Passion

[TxZen]

The thread on money had me thinking...
I wanted to start a positive thread on people, whether ourselves or someone we know, who are living their passion, and not tied to money.

I will start!!!:)

I have a friend who is 38 and a full time yoga instructor. She started 10 years ago. She has always worked in the health and wellness field- either at a store, gyms, farmer's market, etc and she still works some hours at the farmer's market. She was married, now divorced with 1 child. She just purchased her first home, a definite fixer upper but she loves it. She has such a sweet, laid back soul and I love being around her energy. Just today, she told me she went thrifting while she was downtown for an appointment and found 2 linen dresses. She was so excited about finding these beauties. We had a deep talk about life, stuff, money, etc today. An hour lunch turned into 3 hours of discussion. :) LOVE when these things happen. What I did not know was that she got married at 22, divorced at 29, with a new baby. She had the dream she THOUGHT she wanted--big house, cars, money, etc..and she admits she put pressure on her husband to earn the money to give her that dream. When she was 28, she went through a health scare that put her in the hospital for 9 weeks straight. After she came out, she said she did not recognize her life. The house was too big, she hated the designer bags and trying to one up her "friends" with her stuff, lifestyle. She overhauled her life- food, physical, mental, emotional, material, etc...and found her husband, although he complained about their lifestyle, he really liked one upping his friends. She was emotionally detached at that point and bam..found herself pregnant. She requested a divorce 2 weeks after finding out she was pregnant and was at ease with it. She said she lost just about all of her "friends" and her family, while they say they understood, really didn't. But it didn't bother her. She moved into an apartment and kept all things simple and just what she and her future daughter needed.

Her biggest AHA was realizing it's her life, and she was and is at peace where she was. Can you imagine having peace for 10 years and counting??? TRUE PEACE!!!!

And she gets asked ALL the time about being a yoga instructor and making a living. Her answer is simple- if you have passion, you will do it. Most people, she says, are not willing to change their lifestyle or give up "things" but she never has looked at things as what makes life go around. Her peace has led her to teaching at the local schools (how we met) and she is now a local model of sorts (because her body just rocks..oh yes..I checked her out LOL) She is such an inspiration!!!

She has made me start to think differently about my passion in life everyday and letting the crap, on all levels, just go. My biggest take away was she said just be what you want and it will reflect and be true. I totally get that now..

Anyone want to share a nice passion story?

[Ultralight]

A friend of mine works in historic preservation for a non-profit (which is funded by the state, I think). He loves the work and is incredibly good at it. He puts in exactly 40 hours weekly. He is a minimalist and can fit all his stuff into his Honda Fit (he inspired me to fit all my stuff in my Nissan Versa). He runs a mindfulness mediation group and spends a great deal of his free time being social in various community groups. He has no kids (how he likes it), is super frugal, and just kinda lives it up doing things he likes!

[catherine]

I've already discussed in another thread the 6 "kids" (they're twenty/thirty-somethings) who live together on a biodynamic/permaculture farming cooperative--they inspire me completely. They work their butts off, they expect to fail as they learn in the quest for success (and they are succeeding by anyone's definition), and money is not a key consideration: they probably make pennies an hour if you actually calculate their income. They have a clear vision of where they are going and they are hell-bent on executing it.

My son is a musician and in order to be able to focus on his passion for songwriting he has refused to take on debt, refuses to work more than 30 hours a week, and it's clear that everything in his life is secondary to writing music. It's also clear that his monetary prospects are very slim, which doesn't make him the hottest chick-magnet, but he is living his authentic life.

However, I would not want to conclude that in order to live your passion you have to sacrifice money.. I think it's easy for folk like us to assume that people who are actually earning money must be sacrificing their dreams. But in my work interviewing doctors it's not unusual for them to tell me they are living out a lifelong passion to help people, and you can see their passion in their faces and in how they talk about their patients. I think it all depends on what you are willing to give up in order to realize your dreams. Some people will give up a good income, some people will give up time. In any case, sometimes it takes you a lifetime to realize your ladder has been up the wrong wall, as Stephen Covey would say, and that is a tragedy.

[Ultralight]

I have another friend who is very passionate about education so he is starting an alternative school in a rough area of my city.

He does not have to worry about money because he has a handsome trust fund.

But he is also a minimalist, for a while he could carry all his stuff on his bicycle and in his backpack.

[Ultralight]

Ooh... one more (for now). I have another friend who is a dietitian/life coach. She runs her own business and loves it. She makes a shiny coin doing it too!

She is also a minimalist, though a rather moderate one. She spends her free time knitting, jogging, riding her bike, and being involved in the local art scene.

[TxZen]

"However, I would not want to conclude that in order to live your passion you have to sacrifice money.. I think it's easy for folk like us to assume that people who are actually earning money must be sacrificing their dreams." Agree...

I think my point is you can live your passion when you are not attached to the money aspect, no matter how much or little.

[Ultralight]

I've got a couple more:

One friend started a successful brewery. He was able to do this in large part because his wife makes really good money. He also had a kickstarter and found a helpful investor. Now he lives his passion of brewing beers and selling them to people who enjoy craft beers. He also has three kids and a nice home, which is something he likes.

Another friend works for an environmental non-profit. This is is professional "calling." In his off-hours he is a well-know photographer! He makes enough money and has lots of vacation time to support his photo hobby/side hustle. He is very happy and has few worries!

[lac]

Thanks for sharing. Great message. The older I get, the more I wish I wouldn't have wasted so much on things.

[Ultralight]

Thanks for sharing. Great message. The older I get, the more I wish I wouldn't have wasted so much on things.

What do you mean?

[Gardnr]

Thanks for sharing. Great message. The older I get, the more I wish I wouldn't have wasted so much on things.

I'm with you lac. We spent so much money "keeping up". You must have this, you must have that. It will make your life easier taking care of all this extra junk. You must not drive an older car-it must be less than 3y old. Clothing needs to be "current". AGHHHHHHHHHHH:( Drove us to the brink of bankruptcy before we were 30! I got pissed and said "no more"!!! We are staying home, eating tuna fish and blue box Mac n' cheese until all this debt is gone! This was 1987. in 1992 all the debt was gone except mortgage. I finished by bachelor's degree and we took a wonderful 2w vacation. But we didn't amass debt. We paid for it in the next 2 months. Dad died in 1994. A few months before I asked him if he had any regrets in this life?

"Just 2. I left your Mom with a mortgage and I should have paid cash for this house instead of living large. And, I never bought that Mercedes". He was a professional truck driver in Europe from 1945-1961 and always had one. "Best car ever made and the last one I'd ever have to buy". instead, he bought a new one every 3y.

Well his regrets turned into my goals. Home paid off. bought our mountain retreat cabin in 2003 and paid it off in 52 months. $100k in emergency fund. Retirement funded to full federal allowable for both of us. All improvements and repairs made to homes-pd in cash (hence we are still not done with cabin). Savings comes first!!!

And that"s how it"s been since then>>>>>>>>>choices are ever abundant now.

[Ultralight]

I'm with you lac. We spent so much money "keeping up". You must have this, you must have that. It will make your life easier taking care of all this extra junk. You must not drive an older car-it must be less than 3y old. Clothing needs to be "current". AGHHHHHHHHHHH:( Drove us to the brink of bankruptcy before we were 30! I got pissed and said "no more"!!! We are staying home, eating tuna fish and blue box Mac n' cheese until all this debt is gone! This was 1987. in 1992 all the debt was gone except mortgage. I finished by bachelor's degree and we took a wonderful 2w vacation. But we didn't amass debt. We paid for it in the next 2 months. Dad died in 1994. A few months before I asked him if he had any regrets in this life?

"Just 2. I left your Mom with a mortgage and I should have paid cash for this house instead of living large. And, I never bought that Mercedes". He was a professional truck driver in Europe from 1945-1961 and always had one. "Best car ever made and the last one I'd ever have to buy". instead, he bought a new one every 3y.

Well his regrets turned into my goals. Home paid off. bought our mountain retreat cabin in 2003 and paid it off in 52 months. $100k in emergency fund. Retirement funded to full federal allowable for both of us. All improvements and repairs made to homes-pd in cash (hence we are still not done with cabin). Savings comes first!!!

And that"s how it"s been since then>>>>>>>>>choices are ever abundant now.

Well done!