So many of us dream about living our passions. We find something we love, say knitting, and then become compelled to turn our hobby into our full time financial support through a business.We become evangelistic about our hobby and want to turn it into our work.

As artists we quit our job to go paint full time and then have the responsibility to market ourselves, to make up portfolios, and keep track of inventory. We discover our gift of touch when massaging our children, and rush off to massage school for our new profession. We hang out a shingle declaring ourselves in business when we haven’t thought through all the details of managing the business.

We trick ourselves into believing that we’ll be happy if only we had a job doing what we loved; say, we owned our own yarn store.

Starting your own business can be fulfilling, playful and financially rewarding, but don’t kid yourself, it is also hard work, and can be draining of your creative fires.

My client Nancy had been painting greeting cards for fun. She’d developed quite a following over the years and even sold her cards to friends and through word of mouth. One lucky day a gallery owner bought a few cards and sold them all in one weekend. Nancy was ‘in business’. She worked herself ragged over the next few years painting cards for galleries around the nation, keeping her themes consistent and her color pallet in blues.

One day she called me crying.

“I’ve lost all the passion for my cards. I’ve worked the business so hard I squeezed all the joy out it. The cards support me financially, but I can’t do it a minute longer. Shall I just close shop and get a job?”

Nancy had spent so much time and energy building her business, and then producing, she left no time to nurture her soul.

Together we developed a plan. Her next step was to spend one week being creative, but no painting of greeting cards allowed.

She bought crayons, and glitter. Wire and yarn. She painted, and drew, She photographed. She sculpted with play dough. Nancy created with no expectation of finishing any project, and certainly no regard to selling her work. Nancy also rested. She walked, took long baths, read some chick lit, ate picnics in her backyard.

After a week she saw a glimmer of hope. She had fed her soul; Nurtured herself.

One week wasn’t enough, but Nancy did make a commitment to take a few hours each week to create just for the sake of creating, and to take a few moments of quite time each day just for herself.

“Work Hard, Play Hard.”

Playing keeps grounded, joyful, heart centered.

Your passion should feed you, not drain you. If you are feeling burned out, feed your soul with things you love to bring your heart alive again.

If you want to open your own shop, ask yourself if owning your own business is part of your dream. There are plenty of other opportunities to devote yourself to your craft without taking the full plunge into a business.

• Teach an art class at night.
• Work part time in a knitting shop.
• Volunteer at an assisted living facility and offer free neck massages.

If you aren’t sure you want the responsibility of a business, consider keeping your passion a hobby, or finding a part time job with kindred spirits.

Whatever decision you make, be sure to keep your passions alive.