Work to Play? or..... Play for Work?

Do you guys think it is more important to have a job (meaning you are getting paid for it) doing something you absolutely love and are passionate about? Or do you think it is important to keep your passions aside? I have sometimes heard that when you have to depend on your passions bringing in money it can distort your perception of why you love/chose do that thing in the first place. What do you all think?

My husband ended up getting a good paying job doing something he really loved doing. He still enjoys what he does but he doesn't want to be doing the same job in 30 years. He is now more passionate about gardening and growing food and his family. His Job helps us to do that and he does really enjoy his job a lot but I think having to do it to pay the bills has made it something that he gets less enjoyment from than he used to get. That being said I have known people who where able to do work they passionately loved for a living and it did not seem to make it so that they loved what they did any less.

Yeah that is what I am interested in. For my whole life my parents told me to find something I love doing, and then figure out a way to get paid doing it. But I just often wonder if that can ruin it. Because often, if you are relying on it to feed you and your family, you get forced to change the way you do this thing you are so passionate about just so you can get by. And you end up doing something other than what you sought out to do. After rereading this post, it sounds really vague but I hope it makes sense. Ha

I think it is important to have a job that is enjoyable. sometimes for some people they are able to earn a living doing what they love and they continue to love what they are doing. for some people it will change how they feel about what they are doing. I suspect a lot of this depends on what it is you love doing. I love being a mom and that doesn't pay at all, I would hate working in a school or preschool or something where I was taking care of other peoples kids but I could earn some money doing so. I also am a fiber artist and while I love fiber arts I would probably hate it if I was doing it for a living but it would depend on how much creative control I would have I guess. for my making art is about having total creative control. at one time I thought i wanted to be an architect but I probably would be unhappy in most jobs. right now one of my thoughts on bringing in some income is that I will continue working on turning my own back yard into a little garden of Eden and my hope is eventually we are producing more food than my family can eat and so I will sell the extra to local friends and acquaintances. also I think I can combine my love of fiber arts and possibly sell natural plant dye eventually since many native dye plants grow wild all over my property.

It would be great to be able to make a living having fun . But if you make your life a creative adventure then drudgery just becomes a necessary chore . Then on with the fun again . Like doing dishes after a great meal . There's the dishes and then there is the next great meal . So . if your life is fun then salary work is just the chore you need to do before the next fun moment . People who have fun in life probably find the fun in mundane moments too .

Yeah I think those are good points. I also think that working a salary job that you hate for 8 hours a day, five days a week would just tear a person apart. I mean that doesn't leave a lot of time to do fun things. Like when people say they live for the weekends I just sort of feel bad for them. :/ But this is coming from me, who got a degree in English because I couldn't force myself to do something I didn't love. Haha so maybe I am just still a bit idealistic.