I got my hair cut today by a sweet young woman named Alysa. Alysa is living with her parents while she goes to school, taking business school classes. She spends about 40 hours a week on school and 30 hours a week cutting hair to pay the bills. She’s attractive and personable. She mentioned auditioning for singing parts on cruises. When I asked how much she loved to sing, she said, “Singing is the thing I love more than anything else.”
Wow.
How many of us actually KNOW what we love more than anything else?
Alysa had auditioned for the music program at Virginia Commonwealth University – and was turned down as not quite ready, whatever that means. While she had grown up auditioning for – and getting – many singing roles, she was not doing anything currently with her singing. School and work consumed so much time, you see.
I wanted to shake Alysa, to sit her down and give her a good talking to. But I don’t know Alysa, so I just told her to do SOMETHING, anything with her singing.
If Alysa were my friend, I would tell her:
- You are SO LUCKY to have this talent – and, on top of the talent, you have this love of singing, a love so strong that you don’t hesitate to identify it as your one true love. That’s a blessing.
- You are young and the world sits before you, and business school is such a practical course, BUT! Business school teaches you how to make money (or not) – it can’t tell you what passion to follow or how to stay energized and motivated in your business.
- If you follow your passion, you can figure out a way to pay the bills, AND you will savor that life and wring every drop of flavor from it.
I sure hope Alysa finds a way to follow her heart. I might have to go back just to check up on her.
My questions for you:
- Do you KNOW what the thing you love more than anything else is? (What is it?)
- WHAT are you doing about the thing you love??? (Share!)
Please share your answers in the comments!
As for me, I’m wishing for one true love – I feel like I could love many things (writing, photography, music, art . . . ) But I am taking steps to do more of what I love. I wish I had Alysa’s focus!
Love to hear your stories. What would you tell Alysa?
Ami
Peter Bryenton
December 20, 2010
For me it’s always been photography.
This year I volunteered to teach it to blind children, to make a change from my regular job of increasing their IT skills with talking computers. Their creativity and innovation when making photos and videos has been really uplifting.
Ami
December 20, 2010
@Peter: Beautiful. How do you teach photography to blind children? Is there a software program that provides sound or voice cues to help them compose their pictures?