Passion Privilege

Photo credit @Erin Deborah Waks

By Erin Deborah Waks

I didn't know there was such a thing as 'passion privilege' until I started working as a journalist.

Before that, I kind of assumed life was split in half - most of the time spent wasting away the hours in whatever meaningless profession you chose, with weekends and evenings reserved for actually enjoying yourself.

When I started this blog, it was again a kind of way to reinforce this divide between work and life. It wasn't 'work,' it was a hobby. So when I realised I could make a career out of my favourite thing in the entire world - writing - it took a while for it to sink in. For me to come to terms with the fact that maybe, perhaps, my writing was good enough for somebody to pay me for it.

Then somebody did. Well, more than somebody. One of the UK's biggest newspapers, actually. Here we are, five months later and over 150 articles to my name. A paycheck at the end of the month, too.

But the other day, I read something about 'passion privilege' and it really struck a chord. I can't tell you how many times I'm asked how I knew I wanted to be a journalist. The answer is easy. I just always have. There's never really been any question - although I will admit to giving up my plans in fear of not being good enough. So when friends implore me to share my secret for finding a career I love, I don't really have anything to say. There's no secret, no cure - I just know this is what I want to do. Need to do.

I guess it just made me realise how lucky I am. Sure, I had to try out a few different career options before arriving at this conclusion - teaching, academia, marketing, tourism, social media management. All things my personality and skill set suits.

But nothing compares to that feeling of knowing I'm on the right path now. And I'm slowly learning how that, in life, is not a given.