Last year, I quit my longtime barista job to pursue full-time freelance writing. My dream has always been to be a writer, so I thought leaving my survival job was the right step toward achieving that goal.
However, I didn’t have any solid plan. I just knew I wanted to write more, so I freelanced as a reporter for a few publications.
Eventually, money started to get tight. The need to find a client and a paying project became more important than the writing itself. As my unpaid bills loomed over my head, I started to forget why I was writing in the first place — simply because I love it.
So, at the end of last year, broke and exhausted from searching for jobs, I returned to being a barista. I now work at two cafés, which easily pays my bills.
I now see that being a barista affords me the time to pursue my true dreams, helping me redefine the meaning of success.
Separating money from my passion has been transformational
It’s freeing to have my creative aspirations untethered from money, especially at the beginning of my writing life.
Since I no longer have to rely on my writing to pay the bills, I now have the freedom to explore styles and forms that might not otherwise be financially beneficial.
For instance, I’m currently working on a small, non-linear, memoir-style essay for no publication in particular. Maybe the work will be beautiful. It could also just as easily be a lemon. Since money is not the main driver at this moment of my writing life, I can spend all the time I want to tinker with it.
I’m now also reporting on five different subjects that may turn into features. Without the pressure of making rent with my writing, this allows me the time to do a more thorough job than I otherwise could.
As a barista, my writing is completely separate from my job, so it can grow without any parameters.
Building community is my favorite part of being a barista
While I could find a higher-paying survival job, being a barista brings me a lot of joy because I connect with people in my neighborhood.
In some small way, I’m part of a customer’s daily life. They sometimes share stories with me, and I share some with them. It makes me happy to be directly involved in the world around me.
The people I meet, the stories they tell, the ones they oblige me to share — this is what most of us are looking for in our lives. We’re all just looking for a connection.
These small conversations at the café are the fabric of a life lived. And I get to do it as part of my work.
Redefining success is key
Most of us feel like a failure if what we love to do most in the world does not pay our bills. We are told that if you don’t make all of your money doing what you love, you have failed. But that’s not how success has to be defined.
The satisfaction of simply writing and having others read my work has been successful enough. As a barista, I can easily pay my bills, can explore my passions in my free time, and can connect with people around me. That’s all the success I need.
It’s easy to forget that our career is only one aspect of our lives. Work does take up much of our time, but we are not simply the occupations that pay our bills. Splitting my passion from my income has helped me understand that balance.
The post It may seem like I’m unsuccessful because I’m a barista, but I love the job. It pays my bills, and I get to explore my passions. appeared first on Business Insider.
