It’s great when you can make money doing what you love. Not everyone gets to do that, of course. But, regardless of which group you fit in, you should still have an outlet (or more than one) in which you give freely of yourself, with no expectation of anything in return except the feeling that you have done good.
Perhaps you are already doing this. If not, why not take some time to identify ways in which you can give freely of yourself. I have to admit that I was not good at doing this during most of my life, something I would do better if I had the chance. I’m not great at it now, but I give freely via this blog.
This blog generates virtually no income for me: a little more than enough to pay for the servers. But, I have stuck with it because it lets me share lessons from my life and insights that I have learned along the way. Some of you have told me that you have benefitted from this, and that makes it worthwhile to me.
I also happen to have a musical talent, and I openly share some of my guitar solos on YouTube. I have multiple reasons for doing this, including leaving something of me behind for my family and closest friends. But, mostly I do it to allow other musicians to see some licks that they like and incorporate them into their playing. That lets me feel that my talent is not going to waste.
It used to upset me when I wouldn’t get a lot of feedback on the music. In fact, it upset me just the other day. But, I have finally come to realize that I am accomplishing something if even one fellow picker gets inspired by any of my music, and at least a few are.
I mention this because, once you start giving freely of yourself, don’t set your expectations very high in terms of getting pats on the back. If you do, you are likely to be disappointed.
For one thing, people have come to expect to get things for free anymore. And, for another, people are so busy that they often don’t even think of leaving feedback for you.
Anyway, I pretty much stopped sharing my music on this site once I started uploading to YouTube. But, since there might be a few guitar pickers among you, or others who will like some of my playing.