“Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.”
If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. It’s a statement that most of us have heard far too many times, but it’s not terribly realistic for most people. Even if you do find a job that you enjoy, you’ll still want to take a break from time to time. You’ll still want to escape. You’ll still want to do something else.
And that’s the real crux of it, isn’t it? Even when we are trying to seek some sort of escape, we do it by taking up some other kind of work… even if we don’t really think about it as work. The professional photographer might spend the weekend golfing with some buddies to relax, but the irony is that the professional golfer could “relax” by going on a photowalk with some of his buddies.
What one person may consider to be a part of their daily 9-to-5 grind, another person could see as a hugely enjoyable hobby. It’s all a matter of perspective. It’s because, as human beings, many of us feel compelled to do something. When we have free time, we feel compelled to fill that void. And ideally, we’d like to fill that void with something that brings us happiness.
The quote above comes from Anatole France, who was actually born as Francois-Anatole Thibault. He was a well known poet, journalist and novelist. Some people might say that such people live a charmed existence, because they are able to make a career out of something that they love to do. And that something is a task that other people do for fun and for free. People write poetry for its intrinsic value, but here is someone who makes a living from it.
But many people forget that when you turn a hobby into a business, you do run a very significant risk: what was fun and enjoyable could quickly turn into the bane of your existence. The guy who quits his banking job to start an artisan cheese-making operation could come to hate making cheese. So, he takes up another hobby of interior decorating. And then he might come to hate choosing window treatments and matching furniture.
Even if you’re lucky and that doesn’t happen, you’ll likely still seek some escape now and again. And that escape will inevitably be filled with some other labor. What do you do for fun? Do you consider it be work? Could it be?
I don’t think we can ever work doing the thing we love. As you say, it becomes work, a bane. Instead, one should pick something they like to do as a career. They can then enjoy whatever it is that gives them enjoyment in their free time as a hobby.
If you make your hobby your work, you lose the enjoyment of doing it with no deadlines, no consequences. That is the whole thing with a hobby, it’s carefree, no pressure, just fun.
I do technology, I really like it. I do it as a consultant too, but I hack and tinker with making technology work as a hobby that I love. Same field, different focus that makes one a job that is fun and one that is cool.