The Side Hustle Pressure

Alright, for my first real reflection on finding work/art balance, I wanted to talk about the pressure to side hustle and how it impacts motivation.

For so many artists, this is the pressure that hangs over us the most. Not so much how do I make this the best I can make it? But how do I make money doing this?

I've even felt this pressure to side hustle with hobbies that aren't related to my writing. I mean, how many of us have looked at something we made and started brainstorming names for a hypothetical Etsy store?

This might be a no brainer for people, but it was a big moment for me when I realized that I didn't have to define my artistic success by how much money it's bringing in. That I can and should define my success more off of the satisfaction it brings me in the making.

But that side hustle pressure remains. And few people talk about how this pressure to make money off the things you love can kill your motivation to work on it faster than anything else.

Because let's face it, none of us are going to be one of those TikTok kids who made the right post on the right day and is now a millionaire doing what they do. Most artists who achieve financial success spent years if not decades of consistent effort to achieve that success.

I'm convinced part of the pressure I feel to make a career off being a writer is because jobs aren't fun, even if our job is something we generally enjoy doing. So the idea of our job being our art sounds like freedom from work!

I truly believe that our art should be an escape from the working world, and that doing something purely for the love of it will bring more satisfaction and will take so much more pressure off our artistic endeavors in the long run.

The freedom that can be found in working on our art, in my experience, only comes when we free ourselves of these expectations.

So the next time you're feeling pressure to turn something you love into a sidehustle, or if you start feeling like a failure because you aren't making money working on your art, just remember that working on your art for its own sake is good for the soul. It's meditative and motivating and makes us better people.

So let's free ourselves from the pressure of turning our art into our job and instead find success in having fun with it.

If you're someone who has felt this pressure to turn something you love into a side hustle, I'd love to hear more about your experience!