3 ms·
Ask HN: To those trying to pursue their passion but failing, do you regret it?
For the millionth time, I've heard the "pursue your passion" speech. I can't help but wonder what happens to people who tried to pursue their passion but failed, and are now looking around to see their peers achieving "success".
- MichaelCrawford 12y agoSometimes. Lately I have been but it was pointed out to me by Kuro5hin's tdillo that those who pursue the righteous path rarely get any credit for it during their lifetimes. The reason I'm going to go work in the library this morning, is that I don't have the cash to buy a coffee at Starbucks. It really is that bad. On the other hand, I am - at least at times - able to feel pretty good that the work I do has a lot more lasting value than does that of your typical coder.
- refrigerator 12y agoThanks for the reply. If you don't mind me asking - what exactly are you trying to do now and what did you give up to try and do this?
- MichaelCrawford 12y agoWhat I gave up was any real hope at getting a job, this because I quite prominently link to two of my essays about my mental illness at the top of each page of my website: http://www.warplife.com/ http://www.warplife.com/ "Living with Schizoaffective Disorder" comes across to most people as lucid, informative and helpful, but I regard it as rather pedestrian myself. It claims that "I want to tell you what it's like to live inside my head", but really, it doesn't. What does tell you is "My Deepest Fear". I've been tossed involuntarily into psychiatric hospitals on three different occasions - twice by the police, in handcuffs - for no other reason than simply mentioning that essay to mental health professions. This despite not having been symptomatic in any way at the time I wrote it. That it reads like a paranoid manifesto was rather like the literary equivalent of a stage actor being "in character". I'm pursuing some software projects that I have some real hope of succeeding with through crowdfunding, however in reality I regard hosting my software on my site, as a way to attract readers and inlinks to those two essays. It is flatly illegal, in the United States, to discriminate against the mentally ill for reasons of employment. That doesn't make any difference to me; I still get no offers. I could sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act however I feel very strongly in the assertion that "the best response to hate speech is more speech". Consider that had the Weimar Republic passed a law like the ADA, it would not have stopped Hitler from putting people like me to death.
- bitshepherd 12y agoI "pursued my passion" for a while, but the comfort of having a full-time job with a relatively fixed schedule for getting paid was too much at the time, so I started chasing the dollar. To the point where I moved to SV to enter the ratrace. It's starting to pay off a little, but I'm still clocking in at a cube farm for ~8 hours a day. YMMV