blog lovin' tour // money

Hello everyone! and welcome to the sixth and last week of The Declaration of You! Blog Lovin' tour.

The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, with readers getting all the permission they've craved to step passionately into their lives, discover how they and their gifts are unique and uncover what they are meant to do! This post is part of The Declaration of You's Blog Lovin' Tour, which I'm thrilled to participate in alongside over 100 other creative bloggers. Learn more and join us, read here!

This week is all about the money, money, money! (now I can't stop thinking of The Apprentice soundtrack, lol.) If everyday you ask a child what s/he wants to be when grown up, s/he will probably say something different every time. Well… that wasn't my case. Ever since I can remember I've always wanted to be a designer. However for one reason my father didn't really took me seriously, so when I finished high-school and told him I was going to study Design he totally freaked out! He wanted me to study Business because according to him you can do whatever you want with that and because that would grant me a future of economic serenity. He asked me how was I planning to make a living off designing; he said designers, like artists and musicians, couldn't make a living and that I couldn't live off a dream. You know what I said? I told him I wasn't choosing design because of what I expected to earn but because that's what I love. I told him I wasn't going to choose a career just because that meant I would have gotten a nice salary at the end of the month, and that even if it most probably was going to be hard, I knew doing what I love and my passion and enthusiasm would have taken me far. 

The truth is, it isn't easy (but I already knew that.) I'm not yet paying my bills designing (although I have in the past), but I still wouldn't have taken a different path. As I told you last time, I have another job that allows me to pay the bills and even though that brings home the bacon (for the moment), I couldn't just quit my dream and do that because it could potentially be a good source of money.

We all want to pretend and believe that money doesn't buy happiness and isn't the most important thing in life, but the truth is, money does help and money does make you happy (but only if you earn it doing what you love.) In Colombia I'm fortunate and I have many comforts I don't in Italy. It's been my choice to give up those luxuries, not because I don't like them, but because I want to get them myself. Both my parents have always worked hard to get what they have, and they have taught me the value of work and not having everything given for granted. I know as parents they want my sister and I to have it all, but it feels much better when you've earned that all yourself. 

I've not only always dreamt of being a designer, I've dreamt of being a rich and famous one (yup… even if that sounds childish!) I want one day have a lot of money to be able to do the second thing I love the most (travel), live wherever I want, and have the so hoped economic serenity my dad dreams for me. But I also want to be rich to help my family (especially my parents), to pamper all of them and give them serenity too, and I've always dreamt of having and animal shelter, a school with emphasis on the Arts for not so privilege kids, and a nice home for elderly people in Colombia to spend their last days in peace. I want money  and I would be lying if I said it wasn't important to me. It is, but not in a greedy selfish way… I want it to share it. 

I'm not close to that financial serenity yet, but I firmly believe that if you do what you love, the money will come along. It might not be immediate, but I'm sure when it does, the satisfaction will be enormous!