Welcome to can’t relate, a newsletter from me, Maria Del Russo, that I write biweekly on Fridays. If you like what you’ve read, consider subscribing so you’ll be notified whenever I publish.
xx MDR
So, some ~news~. As of Tuesday, I have officially fled the world of full-time editorial writing for the greener, more lucrative pastures of branded content.
And while this move would have made me feel like an absolute sellout a few years ago, I’ve recently come to the realization that I no longer want to rely on what I love to pay the bills. I’m tossing my middle finger up at that old adage that we’ve been taught since we were kids: “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
That is, of course, complete bullshit.
I have been writing for as long as I can remember. I used to fill countless journals with whatever was going on in my brain that day. I lived on the role-playing forums of the early Internet. (Before it was creepy.) I’ve had Tumblrs, and LiveJournals, and Xangas galore. I was a school paper nerd. If I was meant to do anything with my life, it was writing, right?
And for a while, that was true. I’ve had a career I could have only dreamed of when I was a young writer, inhaling magazines and novels like my life depended on it.
But lately, there’s been a change in the industry I loved so much. In a lot of places, creativity has been sucked out of the process. Quantity matters more than quality. We are wildly underpaid, yet expected to wear multiple hats. I’ve watched writer after writer break down under the strain of the volume of work — work that doesn’t resemble the work that we were doing when we started. It’s a fucking mess, and it isn’t unique to any one company. This is an industry-wide issue.
All of this breaks my heart and boils my blood. So instead of continuing to struggle in the hopes things change, I’m officially opting out. Instead of writing for clicks and pretending it’s what I like to do, I’m diving fully into other work and leaving the creative writing to my free time.
It’s simple, really. I am finished monetizing what I love. If I’m being honest, the only reason I’ve kept writing as my full-time job up until now is not just because I love it. It’s also because I’ve been told since I was in high school that I was good at it. But just because you’re good at the thing you love, that doesn’t mean you have to do it for work, right? Why is that immediately where our minds go to? Why are we so insistent on asking people to turn their passions into profits?
The artist Adam J. Kurtz has an art piece (that you can buy as a print) that speaks to this.
This is the sentiment I’ve heard from countless writers, editors, freelancers, full-timers, part-timers. There are only a handful of folks who I know who are actually enjoying the writing that they do — and they are not full-time writers. They supplement. They consult. They tend bar. They do (*ahem*) brand work.
So when the right opportunity came for me to fly the editorial coop, I sprung for it. And it’s an opportunity that allows me to be creative, and to tell stories, but to not rely on the type of writing that I love to pay my rent every month. A dream.
I will still continue to “do” what I love, of course. Taking that type of writing off my plate professionally has already helped open me up to be more creative in my own time. I have a million ideas for this newsletter. I’m *actually* working on my novel. I’m excited to start pitching editors still fighting the good fight in full-time editorial and begin writing features that I actually care about again. I’m excited to want to sit in a café to write, just because it’s something that will make me feel good. I’m ready for writing to be my refuge again — not just a box I need to tick off to feed myself.
I now realize that I don’t have to love my job. Liking it perfect. We are more than the things we do for work, and it is completely acceptable not to monetize your passions. In fact, I am thrilled to have the burden of making money taken off the thing I adore.
If you ask me, we really need to shift our perspective away from the idea that life is work, and work is life. I’m looking to build my life outside of work, and this is the first step in doing just that. So don’t do what you love. Do what you like. Tolerate, even. Instead, enjoy what you love. That is more than enough.
This week’s trio
I know this is extra crunchy, but I haven’t been able to meditate without feeling antsy or distracted. So I’ve been instead enjoying this walking meditation from Headspace. And if I can’t get out of the house, I’ve found that a few rounds of Nadi Shodhan pranayama, or alternate nostril breathing, helps get me back on my shit.
It feels like every Sunday, I’m whipping up a batch of Grossy’s Vodka Sawce.
If you haven’t had a chance to see Andrew Garfield’s interview with Stephen Colbert from last week, I hope you’ll take a couple of minutes to view it. He describes the most gorgeous outlook on grief that I’ve ever heard, and I hope to remember it the next time I experience a loss.
xx
Thank you for sharing Maria
Good reflection! Do you think it’s maybe “easier” do make this decision because you actually already did try to work- and was relatively successful- with what you love? Just curious here!