“I began to realise how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good.” – Roald Dahl.

Let’s face it; it’s not always easy making a living doing something that you love. The majority of people I know fall into one of two categories: some have the kind of job that pays the bills, and some have the kind that you pour your heart and soul into; and for a lucky few those are one and the same.

Finding a career you love takes time, dedication, and a willingness to do what you want to do, not what you think you should do based on what others around you will think.

I consider myself to be one of ‘the lucky ones’, I love to write, and therefore I love what I do. When I’m hard at work, when I’m lost in it, there’s no other feeling like it; and though I know there are no guarantees, and it may take a long time to make the kind of progress that allows me to devote my full-time energy to my passion, I’m on the right path.

I thrive on the excitement of trying and allowing myself to fall, get up, and grow; I love the sensation of being spontaneous and allowing the present moment to deliver me into situations I may have never chosen to explore.

Once you realise that, you realise you’ve found the thing you love.

Then comes the easy part, which simultaneously becomes the hardest part; you find yourself faced with the challenge of finding that ‘perfect’ work and social balance.

Once you find something you’re passionate about and you let yourself get lost in it you have to take a step back and ask yourself: “am I doing what I love; do I love what I do?”; there’s a big difference.

It’s all well and good saying you’ve found the thing you love but if you don’t love what you do, you’ll only end up resenting it, right?

It’s easy to say “I will never check my emails past 7pm” or “weekends are my work-free days”, but what happens when inspiration strikes at 9am on a Sunday morning? If you’re anything like me, you’ll likely feel compelled to act on an idea when you have one.

You don’t have to force yourself to adhere to an arbitrarily determined timeline for relaxation. Take a more realistic approach, set general guideline and adjust them as necessary. This is not hard to do; you just have to decide to do it.

Your goal shouldn’t necessarily be for every day to look the same; it should be to ensure things balance out, on the whole. If you constantly find yourself thinking about what you need to do later, as I often do, you will never get to appreciate what you get to do now.

I understand that not everyone is lucky enough to find the thing they love first time, so even if you don’t like your specific work, or the work environment you are in, you can still love the way you do it.

If you can’t be in the job you love, love the job you’re in, and if you love the job you’re in, let it immerse you and “above all become passionate about it”; but at the same time keep celebrating and expanding all the other joys of life that surround you.