Don’t Quit Your Day Job

Don’t quit your day job.

As an author and aspiring comedian, it’s a refrain I hear constantly. Sometimes directed at my friends and colleagues, sometimes at me. Sometimes it’s sincere advice given by people who have already passed down these roads, know their perils, and know what it takes to walk the path successfully. But more often than not, it’s just a mean-spirited attack launched by snarky assholes who make themselves feel better by disparaging what others are trying to build.

To those people, all I can say is this. Don’t quit your day job, either. Don’t nurture the ambition necessary to take a leap of faith. Don’t dedicate yourselves to developing your talents and honing your craft. Don’t build up the courage to follow your dreams.

Just stay right where you are, in your safe little cubicle, avoiding the risks and never chasing the rewards that a life of creative pursuits may bring. Continue counting off the days until you either retire, or your boss replaces you with an equally bland, faceless cog in an uncaring machine.

Stay at the foot of the mountain, where it’s safe. Some of us will risk the climb, and the few lucky enough to reach the summit will wave back down on you and smile. And even those who fail will have reached higher than you ever dared.