Living Beyond Fear: How I Made Time for My Creative Passions

Hey friends,

Are you longing to make a career out of your passions?

But still have bills to pay?
(Dun. Dun. Dun.)

Me too!

But how do we balance monthly payments and making time for our creative passions?

Travel is a huge passion of mine. Paris, France.

Feeling burnt out, I messaged my brother that I didn't think Grad School was for me.

He asked me what I most desired in a career.

After brainstorming I discovered that the three things I wanted to do most in life were:

1. Writing
2. Traveling
3. Public Speaking

My brother advised, "...try to do those three things the best you can on the side until you get good enough that opportunities will open up to you that will pay you to do them."

My brother, the filmmaker.

Andrew hardly got paid for the YouTube videos he made in High School or for the music videos he later made with his college roommate.

But since he worked multiple jobs ranging from Cold Stone to detailing cars and kept on making videos--bettering his craft--people are willing to pay him $600 a day now to produce a music video.

"Not only that," he told me, "but I had no intention of ever making money off of them nor did I honestly think anyone would really watch them.

"I was making them more for myself than anything.

"I was challenging myself with each video I made, making sure that I was learning and improving in some way and that I personally thought the video was awesome."

My brother accepting an award for his filmmaking. 

Elizabeth Gilbert wrote this: “You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures.”

After saying no to Grad School I increased my working hours at Disneyland and wrote like a mad woman on my second book.

And guess what?

I wrote the first draft in nine months.

I even went to a writer’s conference in Los Angeles, gleaning wisdom from people like Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild.

Are you making time for your creative passions or are you paralyzed by fear?

Tip: Start where you are.

Here is a great interview with Elizabeth Gilbert on her book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear.

Take Care,

Amanda