When I was 12 years old I had no other dream than to be a major league baseball player. My idol was Blue Jays second baseman Robbie Alomar. I figured if my life turned out to be like his all would be right in my world. My back-up plan was to play NHL hockey, but that was only really if plan “A” didn’t seem to materialize for one reason or another.
I’m on the other side of 30 years old now, and each year I pay just under $300 to play mens rec baseball, and ten bucks an hr to play pick up hockey. Sometimes there are crowds of nearly 10 people to cheer us on… but they are mostly there for the fresh air.
The pros it is not. But the funny thing is that I couldn’t be happier.
Somewhere along the line I figured out that my passion didn’t have to be my job. I can’t even estimate how many young adults I talk with who are convinced that their hobbies need to lead into full time gainful employment. While none of us is ever really ready to give up our day dreams of becoming a rock star, a famous actor or world class athlete, there must come a point when we allow our hobbies to be our recreation rather than an endless pursuit of a life’s work.
How many high school music teachers are only there because they took a music degree in school and needed a job. Their passion is performing on stage. They’ve got a regular Thursday night gig at the pub, but somewhere along the line they blurred the lines of work and play. Music becomes a chore they struggle with everyday in their job, and loses the luster it once held.
Countless high school athletes end up as physiotherapists because they feel they need to work in sport… and it seems kind of like sports. It’s not quite what they imagined, but at least they get to talk about muscle pulls all day.
Why is it so difficult to leave our extra curricular interests as just that… an extra. They should be something that bring us joy and add onto our lives. When these hobbies become an endless pursuit, or even worse, a necessity to for income, they can be robbed of the very pleasure that they once brought us. If you love to play music, then play music. You can still have another job. If your world is made better by the missions work you do, then it’s ok to work at the bank and invest two weeks a year into a developing country. Who said that your passion needs to be your job. Your job is what you do to provide for your family. It needs to fit your calling and your gifting, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be your first love.
As for me, I’m going to pay my league registration and play ball.
It might not be a multi-million dollar job that I do every day, but every 7 or 8 days when I get together with the Mississauga A’s I have a great time… and that’s more than enough for this youth worker.
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