Have you ever felt as though you’ve missed your calling? Maybe it hits you each time you read a certain type of book and wish your name was on the cover. Or maybe it’s when you catch a glimpse of a vibrant painting and wonder why the brushes you bought are still in their original packaging. You were once passionate about your craft, but somewhere along the line you drifted. Montreal-based photo & video artist Alana Riley (yes, there are two!) did a fantastic photo shoot called, “I am still what I am meant to be”. Are you?
On the flip side, maybe you did write the book and did paint the picture, but feel the world somehow failed to direct you down Success St. Or did it? It’s easy to ask the question, “If this is the life I want, then why aren’t I living it?” but it’s the hardest to answer.
We put an ungodly amount of pressure on ourselves, and it’s caused many to live a professional life we never imagined would be ours. To get by, we convincingly say,”It’s just my 9-5″, but those hours turn into years, and they’re our years to treasure. Instead of creating a life we love, we’ve created social, economic and atmospheric chaos. Regardless as to whether we were directly involved in that or not, it’s now up to all of us to backpedal as quickly as our feet will take us so as not to completely sink. That in itself is the greatest pressure of all. Yet it’s certainly not a reason to give up on our own dreams.
Whenever I think about about how hard it is for some to just do what they feel, I always think about my Grandmother. She’s always telling me stories about how she worked at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence when she was younger, and at the local phone company. She commuted to work each day on bus-after-bus & block-after-block on foot through all elements – including the beginning of what was eventually termed the Hurricane of 1938 – to make it to her minimum wage 25-cent an hour job. And you know what? She loved it. She talks more about her days working than she does about anything else, including her late husband, my Grandfather, Joe. She’s always been an independent, one-woman-show; put her in a room, any room, and she’ll be fine. If President Obama, the Dalai Lama and Sarah Palin all came to visit, she’d talk with Obama about the awful time she’s having trying to find a good dentist, with the Dalai about why he wears a Rolex, and with Sarah about her very sleek wardrobe. She’d finish it up with one of her famous stand-up acts, making everyone laugh – some because they actually get her jokes, and others because sometimes she laughs so hard she makes absolutely no sense. Either way, I find it fantastic, because she’s not afraid to just be herself. As everyone in my family knows, sometimes she can speak her mind too much, but still, I love her for that, because she’s just being Evelyn.
So my question is, when did Americans forget to be themselves? At the end of the day, you can only do so much settling before you settle into being someone you’re not. The most precious gift you’ll ever be given in this lifetime is the chance to write the pages to your story, and the best way to do that is to live each day doing what you love.
