Life Through the Lens

We’re encouraged from a young age to find what we’re passionate about and make a career out of it. It makes sense. Do what you love, love what you do. Why be in a career that makes you miserable?

I’m lucky to always be involved with what I love. I have a passion for teaching, so I teach part-time at our local community college. I lovvvve being a mama, and I’m blessed to be able to stay home with Max and be a full-time mama to him while daddy goes to work. I’m also enamored with photography, and am incredibly lucky that my business has picked up the way it has and my client base is rapidly growing.

But at what point might it be a bad idea to make your career your passion? I spend so much time now taking photos for other people or of my own family, that I hardly remember the last time I took photos for myself. Is doing what I love going to burn me out on my passion? Am I going to stop enjoying photography if I’m doing it for work so often? How do you draw that line to make sure creating a career out of your passion doesn’t burn you out on it?

If I went out with my camera, free as a bird, what would I end up taking pictures of? I’m a big believer in capturing moments, not creating them, so for me it’s important to wait for the moment. But where would I go wait for those moments? Part of this 60-day journey is to explore my artistic side more, and continue to figure out what it means to be to be a photographer for myself. Maybe I should take some time to go do that today, since it’s the weekend and Jose is home from work.

I’ve also felt very strong lately about getting my yoga teacher certification because I enjoy doing yoga sooo much. But then I started questioning whether or not that is the right route for me because I barely find time to get to a regular yoga class, much less put forth the energy to do a practice at home. I think I’ve discovered on this journey that yoga is just something I really enjoy doing. But that doesn’t mean I have to try to make it my life, especially if it’s become such a struggle to try to do it often.  So maybe this is something that I should just enjoy as a hobby. Just because I love it so much doesn’t mean I have to make a career out of it. Maybe I’ve taken that expression too literally to make a career out of your passion.

I split my focus so much these days, that maybe that’s hindering me from getting really good at just one of those things. I’m a wife + mama + photographer + yogini + teacher + sometimes traveler (+ and now blogger?). That’s a lot of stuff! Leo’s post on Zen Habits today (once again) hit home for me. He discussed just doing one thing well. He’s right. I should have one focal point for my career, and the rest will (I guess) fall under a different label?

If you try to perfect each of the hats you wear, you’ll probably be stretched too thin and end up being a “jack of all trades but a master of none.” Do one thing and do it well. So does that mean you have to choose one to make your first priority? And that’s the only thing you can do well? I’m still chewing on this one and figuring out how this can apply to my own life.

Do you do just ONE thing and do it well? Are you doing what you love as your career? Why or why not? If you are, do you see yourself getting burnt out on your passion? How can you avoid that?