Doing what you want to do...

Many of us have jobs.  Jobs that we do because we needed a job and the particular job we have opened up to us.  There's nothing wrong with that.  We all need a means of supporting ourselves and our family and it's definatly honorable to hold down a job and be responsible.  The problem is that many time (most?) we would rather be doing something else.  I am a computer programmer.  I have been working at the same job for almost 29 years with nearly 25 of those years with the same company.  I like the people I work with and work for.  They are all good people and I consider them my friends, but over the years I've found that I'd much rather be doing something else.  But what am I good at?  I can think logically (I am a programmer after all), I'm a good speller, I can express myself with the written word.  I'm also decently talented in music.  I don't know how well I can sing (you poor souls who have heard me) but I can play a musical instrument or 2.  I spent a few years playing the clarinet (better than Squidward I might add for those of you who are familiar with SpongeBog) and in 7th grade the band (junior high school band) I played with won a first place in state and a wind ensemble won a first place that year and I played a bass clarinet solo that also garnered a first place for me.  So I know I can play.

What I'd like to do is a couple things.  I'd like to pick up the clarinet and get back into it.  I'd like to learn the guitar and bass guitar.  And, I think more so, I would like to write a story.  One good enough to get published and make me an author.  Perhaps this blog is a way of doing something along those lines at least.  Though I have not written a story here, I have written quite a few different things and, in a few of my earlier posts, I included stories that I had started.  I've had no special training and I think my stories show that lack of education and experience in the matter, but at 54 (nearly 55) I've decided that I want to do that.  I've heard some say that you should write what you know.  But nobody wants to read a program that has over 10,000 lines in it.  It could be somewhat boring. 

What I'm trying to say is if you can do it, do what you like doing.  Learn what you're good at and if you have a job then do that thing in your spare time.  Holly, my daughter is a wonderful artist and I would love it if she could dedicate her time to doing her art.  Painting, drawing and what not.  She's really good at it and I think she could earn a decent living at it.  The fact that she's still quite young, means she's got lots of time to hone her art and grow confident in what she does. 

I plan on taking up one of my stories and working through it to the end and then see where it goes.  I hope all of you who read this look at yourselves as others do and see the talents that you have and feed those talents and make them grow.  I think all of us would benefit from that.