Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

Posted by Amy Baranski

In my dream life I spend the day just scouring the region collecting treasures like mushrooms or experiences such as meeting strangers doing tai chi on early weekend mornings. But reality hits, and I spend the day chained to my desk feeling my way through a waterfall of digital content. Although I find something extraordinarily 21st century about sloshing through data streams it ultimately feels rather dull.

In the past decade, I've encountered a whole set of people who by their lifestyle alone mock the 9 to 5 modality, eschewing a desk job or punch card to pursue their hobby art. And although many, if not all of them, embody a searingly desperate (and quite often loud) passion for something I find them too oft riddled with an enormous and stressful amount of existential crisis.

So which is better? And what does a life make?