Sign up for the Pad Your Paycheck letter NOW if you haven’t already done so. Some good stuff is coming out soon - stuff you can use to super-charge your cash flow. But I gotta know who you are….and you gotta know me!! 
Driving my 15 year old daughter and her friend to school this morning, same as every other morning, I was feeling a little frisky. For some reason I had geography on my brain. U.S. geography has always been a hobby of mine. So I decided to have a little fun…
“Hey Sabrina (not my daughter), what’s the largest state in the US in terms of area, not people?”
Jillian (my daughter) rolls her eyes. Dad’s doing that thing again.
Sabrina’s completely caught off guard. The six minute ride to school has again been interrupted by Mr. H.’s rantings.
And Jillian, in spite of herself answers softly. “Alaska.”
“Quiet, Jill. I’ll ask her.”
Get it? I’ll ask her. A-lask-a.
That brought on a look of hostility from Jill and patient amusement from Sabrina.
But yes, the answer is Alaska.
“OK, what’s the smallest state in terms of area?”
She got that pretty quickly. Rhode Island, our neighbor to the east.
“What’s the largest in terms of population?” One missed guess (Florida) before she came up with the correct answer: California.
“And what’s the smallest?” No clue, so I had mercy and gave her Wyoming.
“NOW…for fun. What’s the most densely populated state? Largest number of people per square mile.” She offered up California as the answer. But I reminded her of all that glorious national park land without human population. Then I gave her the correct answer: New Jersey.
“And what’s the least dense?” Another deer in the headlights look so I gave her Alaska.
We finished right about the time we pulled into the parking lot, which is when Jill finally let herself go. “This is pointless. Nobody cares about this.”
Typical Dad response: “Well I care about this and I’m somebody!”
Then, still in a rascally mood I took it a step further…
“And you know what Jill? You put all your time and energy into a play by a guy who’s been dead for hundreds of years, and no one understands a word he’s saying anyway!”
The high school was doing “A Comedy Of Errors by Shakespere.” She’s had a role and was part of the production crew. I don’t really feel that way about Willy the Shake. Just wanted to push her buttons a little more to see what kind of reaction I’d get.
“I understand it! It makes sense to me and a lot of other people!”
“And that’s the right answer, Jill. Whatever is important to you is good enough. I don’t have to justify geography and you don’t have to justify Shakespere.”
Man, I love these car rides! Some of the time.
*** ***
Whatever your passion is…it’s YOUR passion. You don’t owe anyone an explanation.
What you DO owe yourself is to live it out. Organize your life around the things that light you up. Don’t fit it into the nooks and crannies.
Keep doing what you need to do to sustain yourself. It’s probably not time to quit your job and backpack across the country.
But keep your passion on the front burner. Stay open to those whose interests and talents are complimentary to yours. Note…they don’t have to be identical. I’d prefer not to be in a room all day with people who want to talk about U.S. population statistics.
Spending enough time and energy on living out your music will give you opportunities…to meet new folks, to develop your skills, to carve out a lifestyle (yes, with the money part too) that revolves around the thing you love.
The only things that will stop that reality from manifesting are impatience, fear and a need to conform to someone else’s expectations of you.
Have a great day, from Connecticut - the third smallest state in the USA,
Larry
P.S. Even in a small state, there are areas that are wide open to create whatever you want. I’m not just talking Connecticut. I’m talking that space between your ears.
So true. You don’t owe anyone an explanation for your passions. It reminds me of the story of Prince Herbert who just wanted to sing, but his
father couldn’t understand that. His father thought that Prince Herbert should be more interested in large tracts of land.