June 29th, 2006, 10:51 am

Quoted: Cary Tennis, “When we are only pretending”

Cary Tennis, Flickr’d by badgrrl.

From time to time, I quote Salon’s Cary Tennis at length. He writes the advice column, “Since You Ask,” which occasionally has moments of pure beauty.

Here’s his advice for a young person, struggling to find the next thing.

“But doing what you don’t want is not practical. If you are not suited to it, it is not practical. You are not all that motivated to get something you do not all that much want. So you will not work all that hard to get it and you will not excel so greatly in the endeavor. Others who desire it with all their hearts will pass you, and you will wonder why you are even trying, since it is so hard for you and since you do not even enjoy the work or want it all that much anyway.

There is, on the other hand, much practicality in working toward what you want, even if it is difficult. If you are working for what you want, you are using your hungers to your advantage.

When we do the things we love we create congruence between motivation and talent; we come alive. When we are brought to life by doing what we love, we do it well, and people notice, and they hire us. When we are only pretending, we languish and suffer, doing mediocre work begrudgingly, hating our lives and those around us, and we die poor and unhappy.

So do what you love.

It is hard to do what you love. It takes more work than doing what is simply available. But it is the right thing to do. And in the end it is the most practical choice.”