J. Westenberg hates being a writer:

They say that if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. It’s bullshit. It’s not true. It’s a fabrication. It’s a quote splashed on an Instagram photo with too many hashtags and barely a scrape of meaning.

There are times when I dearly love writing, and there are times when I dearly love being a writer, but there are moments that make me feel like I’m drowning. Those moments when it’s late at night, and there’s nothing but me and complete silence and the words won’t come. Those moments when I look back and hate the work that I’ve done. Those days where nobody reads, where there are no ideas, where I have no blood to give.

The truth is, your deepest most closely and personally held passion will still feel like work, when it requires work. When it requires sweat. When the pressure is looming above you and you’re struggling.

Why wouldn’t we want to have a life without work? A life without the pressure of getting shit done, a life where we don’t have liabilities and responsibilities that demand time and bandwidth and emotional and physical and intellectual labour? It sounds like a dream come true, but it really is only a dream.

Oh, do I want a life without work. I’m inherently lazy. Sometimes, I don’t want to do a thing.

Still, you power through. Passion is something you never want to lose. Even on the bad days. Even on the days you hate writing.