Passion and Profits

“Do what you love, and the money will follow,” a saying often repeated in mantra-like repetition by those who want to make what they love doing and what keeps the essentials taken care of coincide. The reality of that saying, however, is that the ability of having what you love to do pay the bills is connected to how easily others can do it, whether they're willing to fund it, and the amount of talent it takes to do it at a high level. This reality is something all of us face at least once in our lives, and is often what drives many to take the “safe” jobs, while their true ambitions are left on the back burner. For some, their loves become their off work hobbies, while others leave it to gather dust, both of them left to wonder what could be, if they ever summon the needed guts to risk it all. It's a cruel abstract, and to help clarify it, I'd like to tell the stories of the girl who loves Basketball, the boy who wants to help others heal their hearts, and the girl who wanted to run her own arcade, who, for simplicity sake, I'll refer to as Danni, Shannon and Alex.