If we didn’t do what we loved, we wouldn’t exist

Most boxing movies have the same plot.

Fighter wants revenge against an unbeatable opponent. Fighter’s wife tells him that it’s suicide and not worth ruining their lives for. Fighter passionately explains to his wife that boxing is his whole life, it’s all he knows, he can’t change and he has no choice.

Wife sulks during most of act two, but slowly caves to support the fighter in his macho quest for vindication as the training montage comes to a climax and the final bout draws near.

The big night comes, and the match begins. Unbeatable opponent is surprised at the fighter’s newfound strength, speed and strategy. Fighter persists and prevails in final moments and everyone weeps tears of joy.

This story makes for one hell of a cinematic experience. No wonder most boxing movies always make me cry.

But lest we forget, it’s just a movie. Filmmakers are preserving something called character continuity, in which the actors are striving to be consistent in their behavior. Like the fighter, for example, who doesn’t necessarily want to enter the ring and risk his life, but it’s just his nature and he can’t help it and he doesn’t have a choice.

As audience members, we cannot allow this narrative to convince us that real life works the same way. It doesn’t.

We have far more options that we realize. Just because one particular career has been our whole life and all we know up until this point, it doesn’t mean we’re stuck doing that job until we die trying. We don’t have to risk everything. We can pivot and do something else.

Creed says in the climax of his film that he would be no good to anybody if he didn’t do what he loved.

Which is true, but since when is there only one way to do what we love? Isn’t that mindset operating with a constricted view of the choices available to us?

Pretty sure boxing is a hundred million dollar industry with multiple career paths available, especially for a champ. If you can’t get in the ring anymore because of medical reasons, you can still open your own gym, become a sports broadcaster, hang up your shingle as the boxing trainer to the stars, teach underprivileged youth how to fight their way out of the ghetto, become a consultant for film and television, build a media empire of instructional videos and books, the sky is the limit.

Hell, most people will recreate their careers in significant ways multiple times in their lives. That’s what smart and adaptable people learn how to do. They maneuver their way to something that works.

My mentor once told me that our option for how to create fulfilling work is only limited by our imagination’s ability to create scenarios that excite us. The definition of work, of career, of what is and is not a business, are forever altered and can be molded to fit anything that excites and feeds our soul, as long as we choose to explore it intentionally.

Remember, if we have a plan, then we’re limited to today’s options. But if we’re willing to evolve, then we can always find another way to do what we love.

Don’t follow your passion, bring it with you. Focus less on choosing the path of passion, and more on channeling your passion in whatever path chooses you.

Are you trapped between the backward pull of history and the forward drive of ambition?