Don't just do what you love; do what you can endure.

Being the natural cynic that I am, I try to counter-balance thoughts with seeing and encouraging the best in people. Although a lot of my internal defaults can be negative, I think it gives me a very positive output as I aim to level my mental self.

We all have things that we're good at, whether it's music, art, building things, programming computers, or just talking to people. When you're trying to figure out what you want to do as a career, it's important that you not only look at what you're good at, but what you can continue to do indefinitely.

I realized this through a recruitment process for Torches Academy. Creating lessons with a video camera, and livestreaming, and talking to people online takes a certain kind of individual to do. Every person that I have pushed to conquer this with me I had sky-bound hopes for, but I forced myself not to be disappointed with the outcomes as, like I said, it's not for everyone. Most people that I have recruited to be a part of Torches Academy have since dropped off, and I am okay with this.

It pedals back to that original thought - it's not just what you're good at that's important - it's how you're doing it. Is it something you can keep up for a year? 5 years? 10 years? Through the success and the bullshit?

I love playing music live, but it's a lustful and fleeting love that I don't think I'd be able to hold onto for, say, multiple tours. A good friend of mine is the opposite. For him, recording an album in the studio is secondary to getting out there and playing it night, after night, after night.

As I work with a lot of youth who are looking into higher education, I think it's extremely important that we are forcing them to think not just about what they're good at, but what they can endure.

No matter how much you love something, when it becomes your full-time job some of that spark goes away, if not entirely. As much as that sounds like a sad thought, it's not at all what it seems. Music doesn't always give me that euphoric feeling that it did in the beginning, but that's because I've invested in it past the point of butterflies in my stomach - I've married it.

And that's really what it is, it's a deeper sense of commitment and love that is far from perfect. Sometimes I hate it, sometimes I want to quit, but at the end of the day I always come back to the fact that I am a musician; it's a part of my identity.

In this sense, it's detrimental to my progression that I continue to have this imperfect, deep, real connection with my work. Not every song is a banger, not every track gets me dancing around my studio like I just made a platinum record, not every melody or vocal line gives me chills - it's an abysmal mental and emotional investment that goes deeper than just the good.

So, when you're toying around with what you want to do, and how you can do it, keep in mind that longevity is everything. Find the thing that you not only love, but can grow old with, and when you find that thing, do the hell out of it. It's easy to love something, it's hard to love something forever.

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