In life, you have to prioritize. I often vacillate between my two biggest pursuits right now, art and music. I like both. I mastered delta blues and cartooning, and wonder which is more important. My mind often works in the method of comparison and contrast, and I am constantly doing this.
Obviously, my music is a lot of fun but won't pay off. You can get thousands of streams on YouTube and Spotify and still not be rich. The MP3 and the streaming websites ruined the profitability of music in the modern era. The business has changed, and if you are not Taylor Swift or Kanye West, you are not going to make a lot of money in music. It doesn't matter how talented you are. You need marketing, advertising, to sell out big venues, and to create provocative, new music to be rich. I like the old sound of the blues from the 1950s and 1960s. This was the best music ever made, and the 60s will always be known as the climax of western civilization.
But art and design is a different story. I have a degree in graphic design, I mastered Photoshop, and I like visual storytelling. The graphic design business is growing as the computer and internet takes a bigger role in people's lives. Every business needs graphic design, and even copywriters and journalists need images to attach to their articles. So drawing and designing are huge important skills now. My education is relevant.
Ultimately, I don't need more money. I have enough and I am content with my life. But I want more productivity and more renown, and I can accomplish that by doing a little bit every day. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is pick up my guitar and play. And throughout the day, I use my computer to digitally color drawings, write in my journal or blog, and use the internet to watch my creative career going. It is a fulfilling life and money is not an issue.
So I know my life is fine and I don't need to accomplish anything. In addition to delta blues and cartooning, I can practice Judo, cook my own food, and do what I need to do. So in many ways, I am better off than a millionare stock broker with no free time and no real joy. I do what I want to do and I do it well. So who's better? I never got to work in wholistic medicine and it doesn't even matter. Nietzsche called this attitude Amor Fati. The love of fate. When you realize that everything that happens to you happened for a reason, you naturally become disinterested and amused. Life is not an accident, it has a guiding hand. So don't fight back against the system. Just take it easy.
