A typical life that is desired by the majority of our society can be described as: working in a high paying job, buying a nice house/vehicle, and raising a loving family. Yes, I admit that these things would be extremely nice to have and would make me happy, but they wouldn’t complete me either.

That list lacks one vital ingredient: individual hobbies and interests. Throughout my lifetime, I grew up being told the common phrase, “You can be anything you want to be.”

Unfortunately, in this life, it is difficult to simply choose a career path based on only personal interest in the work.

Naturally, we are forced to weigh in other factors; “Will we earn enough income to support our family? Will our job allow us to maintain a healthy work-life balance? Will our career offer good insurance?” The list is endless.

The tough truth is, our dream jobs may not satisfy some of these desires. More times than not, people end up choosing a career path that they have less interest in but offer more rewards in the other aspects. However, although their career may be “just a job” or something they “settled for” in terms of interest, it doesn’t mean they can’t find a different way to pursue their passion.

I believe an essential ingredient to happiness is discovering a hobby that a person has complete interest for and takes pride in. Hobbies are one aspect of life that really don’t seem to be bound by too many outside factors: the main requirement is simply choosing something that makes us feel accomplished, unique, and complete.

Although most are not lucky enough to end up working in their “dream job,” the good news is almost all careers can somehow be converted to a hobby. In this day and age, many of us are made to believe that we must choose between making a lot of money or pursuing our passion, but this is very far from the truth.

I hope anyone who is struggling to make this decision realizes that they don’t have to choose between financial or emotional happiness. A compromise can be found so both sides may co-exist and so total satisfaction can be achieved.