Bloggers Living Their Dreams
November 7th, 2007 - Jarkko
One of the greatest inspirations for reaching for your dreams, your dream job in this case, is to look at others doing what they love. There are countless examples of people who do what they feel they are made for, and today I thought I wanted to present a few of them to you.
These fine people are all bloggers who I follow actively, people who are up to something important. They might not change the world but they are making the most out of their lives.
If you missed the comments for my post from Monday, you should check them out now. Two of the first commentators, Veera and Liz, both say that they are indeed living their dreams! That’s amazing!
Now, get ready to be inspired!
- Scott Ginsberg: When I think about bloggers who are happy to be doing what they do, the first person that comes to mind is always Scott. Scott is a speaker, author and he wears a name tag every day. But what brings him to this list is that he keeps posting comments like “God, I love this job” or like he puts it in his latest newsletter: “In the month of October alone, my clients have included inner-city librarians, municipal landfill owners, funeral directors, paper shredding companies, chiropractors, school lunch ladies and recruiters. — What a job!“
- Stay at home dad Mike (DevDad): Mike is staying at home to build his business and take care of his cute little daughter. Mike doesn’t say it out loud, but based on his posts it’s clear that he really enjoys spending time with his family while still being able to build his business at the same time. I’m almost jealous at him…
- Naomi Dunford (Ittybiz): Here I am, linking to Naomi again - just can’t help it. She says that she is completely unemployable and can’t think of working anywhere outside her home. She enjoys the fact that she can work on her amazingly refreshing and fast growing blog in her night robe without having to worry about colleagues and office politics.
- Shane and Peter: These two guys met at a coffee house where they were both working and soon realized that their work fits perfectly together. Now they describe their business partnership as a friendship - something that makes their lives enjoyable and interesting. And they share an insanely interesting blog.
- Kim and Jason Kotecki: I have written about Kim and Jason a few times before, but here’s what Jason has to say about living his dream: “I am following my dream… Well, not the one where I am flying above Metropolis with Lois Lane in my arms while thousands of admirers below shout their chorus of praise in appreciation for saving the day - but still. At least I don’t have to worry about taking my cape to the dry cleaners. When it comes right down to it, I love to draw. I love to make people laugh. I love to encourage and bring joy to others.”
And as a bonus, there is Chuck. He hates your job and isn’t afraid to speak his mind.
What about you? You would you put on the list? Who would you leave out? Should you be on the list? Why? Speak up and you’ll be heard.
I´m living my dream of being a writer. Though I still don´t have the whole work/life balance thing worked out, it is definitely within reach. I´m now doing well enough that at the end of Nov. I will no longer be taking on assignments that I don´t enjoy or that have deadlines that are too tight for me.
At the moment, with two boys under the age of 2, I don´t want to be working all the time and freelance writing allows me to do what I love to do, earn a living at it and still spend time with my children and husband . . . gotta love it! Also, with the money I earn, my husband was able to quit his teaching job (which he hated) and focus on being a musician (night job) so he is here with us most of the time!
Hey Genesis, that’s awesome! I’m sure it’s much better for your kids to have you around, even if you’re working during the days, than have you go to work somewhere outside the home.
Congratulations! And keep it up, you rock! :)
I got kind of teary when I saw this. I turned to Peter and said - “We’re living our dream”. He smiled his little smile and said “I know.”
Now, Jarkko is humble, but this dude has to be one of the more content bloggers I read. Who else would be more qualified to write this post?
I’m living my dream! Remember when you wrote that post about bloggers missing in actions…? Well that was about 3 weeks after I quit my job and found out my wife was pregnant…while starting a business. Now, I’m working for myself, just updated my blog (it’s not quite done), and My wife and I are writing a marriage book!
Hey Jarkko -
Thanks for the mention. I love getting good press, but especially for this kind of reason. I am without question living my dreams. From a spiritual and personal standpoint, I have become one of those people who rushes out of bed in the morning. I’m “working” before I’ve had my coffee. I have so much fun at what I do, it doesn’t feel right to call it work.
Financially speaking, far more than my wildest dreams come true. I always believed that the truer you are to yourself, the more likely doors will open up for you. I haven’t always acted on these thoughts - it’s very easy to get caught up in the fear - but I am a very real testament to life being good.
Thank you. As always, your post was fantastic.
Thanks for the link love!
“Dreams make decisions easy.”
Thanks for the great comments, guys!
shane: Hearing that makes me so happy! I’m glad that I was able to create a soft moment like that :)
Graham: Wow! There sure is a lot of action in your life right now - and good action I might add. What makes me particularly happy is that you’re working on a book together with your wife - doing things together certainly has some amazing power in it!
Naomi: What can I say… That’s amazing! You’re such a great example showing that living your dreams really is possible.
Scott: My pleasure :)
does ‘living your nightmares’ count?
especially if there is nothing better you want to do. (which, in my case is - ‘nothing else i CAN do’)
who said ‘freedom’ always feels exhilarating?
then again, who said, life is all about exhilaration?
don’t mind me - i am talking to myself, you know. i do it all the time… on such blogs. better than having my own. and then having to ‘got to post’…
:)
its my style of saying: “thank you. i loved the post.”
@biren: Thank you for challenging me! This luxury you don’t always get in the blogosphere.
I’m not quite sure if I follow you thought formation, though.
The nightmare part escapes me: by definition, a nightmare is something you don’t enjoy (often scary). So, I would say that you are living your nightmares, that cannot make your life happy. If the “CAN” in the “nothing else i CAN do” sentence really means “CAN” and not for example that you just haven’t paid attention to other options, or are scared of trying something else, I’d say OK, maybe you have a point. But in most cases, I’m sure, it’s not that you cannot do anything else, but you won’t. And there is a big difference.
And no, freedom doesn’t always feel exhilarating. With freedom comes responsibility: you have to grow up and take care of yourself. And that’s not always easy. And many of the things in life are not related to whether you are free or not. Things happen outside of this continuum of slavery to freedom.
And no, life is not all about exhilaration. But that’s not the point about freedom. I think freedom is about being able to live fully and having all the resources you can have for participating in the other things that life is about. Helping out, caring about people, spending time with your loved ones, chasing your dreams. This list naturally isn’t the same for everyone. I’ll make a guess that you won’t rank chasing your dreams as high as I do. But that’s OK, we have a different view on life.
Thanks for taking this post as a challenge, Jarko. otherwise, like a friend, you may have tried to write what was right in my thought process.
i don’t need that (though, that’s what i want)
have you ever experienced yourself defending your pain(ful position) just because you are so self-engrossed, you can’t see anything else?
well, that happens all the time with me.
such ‘taken-up’ challenges untangle me. sometimes, at least.
:)
i appreciate your conversing.