I think if you put your nose to the grindstone and do what needs doing when you're younger - even if it feels like 'work' and not 'your dream job' - then you end up debt-free sooner and your world opens up in new ways that you never expected.
Love this post and this conversation in the comments Mika and Leanne 💛 I never had a clue what I wanted to do when I grew up. I ended up as an accountant pretty much by accident and caught the ambition bug, got to a senior position with a good salary and then gave it up to be an illustrator full time. But I couldn’t sustain the same earnings and after a while, drawing as my job put as much of a weight on me as the millstone I’d felt previously, I wanted the freedom to create wherever and whatever and whenever and not to a schedule. Having it feel like work made me sad. Now I’m back working as an accountant again in a less senior job and fewer hours, and I’m creating with freedom and joy. Yes I wish I didn’t have to work and that creativity would pay the bills, but not at the expense of the joy and freedom to do what I love when I choose.
I do appreciate you sharing your experience. Often we don’t hear the realities of being a creative. We see the YouTube video of “a day in the life in my art studio” and we dream of getting our work out there like they do.
You don’t see the pressure of getting a consistent income and what that do to the creativity or mental health.
Have you found a good balance between your accounting work and your illustrations?
I just love this!
Do you think it helped to not have the pressure of the career and making money weighing you down?
Sounds like you’re really embracing and loving life!
I think if you put your nose to the grindstone and do what needs doing when you're younger - even if it feels like 'work' and not 'your dream job' - then you end up debt-free sooner and your world opens up in new ways that you never expected.
Gosh, I would love to read your version of “advice I would give my younger self” 💕
Love this post and this conversation in the comments Mika and Leanne 💛 I never had a clue what I wanted to do when I grew up. I ended up as an accountant pretty much by accident and caught the ambition bug, got to a senior position with a good salary and then gave it up to be an illustrator full time. But I couldn’t sustain the same earnings and after a while, drawing as my job put as much of a weight on me as the millstone I’d felt previously, I wanted the freedom to create wherever and whatever and whenever and not to a schedule. Having it feel like work made me sad. Now I’m back working as an accountant again in a less senior job and fewer hours, and I’m creating with freedom and joy. Yes I wish I didn’t have to work and that creativity would pay the bills, but not at the expense of the joy and freedom to do what I love when I choose.
I do appreciate you sharing your experience. Often we don’t hear the realities of being a creative. We see the YouTube video of “a day in the life in my art studio” and we dream of getting our work out there like they do.
You don’t see the pressure of getting a consistent income and what that do to the creativity or mental health.
Have you found a good balance between your accounting work and your illustrations?