At this point "follow your dreams", "live a satisfying life" and other variations thereof are cached wisdom. When you go to a high school class and hear people who admit they didn't go where they wanted in college telling you the same thing, you'll notice something like an epistemic code smell. Unless the proportion of people working for "the man" has changed significantly in the last...whenever this meme became popular, I can only conclude that the sort of "creative work" which seems to have become something of a holy grail to young job seekers is possibly:
1. Unattainable or unsustainable for the vast majority of people.
2. Not as good as it sounds on paper.
3. Economically infeasible.
Otherwise we would all be cartoonists.
EDIT: Maybe I'm not 'getting it'. Considering that other HN thread on the front page where everyone complains about contrarianism, I have to wonder if theres something fundamental here that I'm not seeing.
I think what you're referring to are platitudes. People say "follow your dreams", but most of the people saying that in schools didn't follow their own advice.
Watterson actually lived by his own standards. This included forgoing millions in licensing deals, and retiring to pursue personal art, when the strip was at its peak.
He achieved great success, but to the conventionally minded he seemed positively insane for a long time. He spent four years living at home, working a day job and submitting cartoons, without success.
When most people say "follow your dreams" it's implied that they think you should do so within existing structures.
They are, and I guess my point of contention with Watterson is that I'm having trouble distinguishing between his advice and the platitudes, even though he actually lived it.
I'd say of all those three number 2 is the most common reason why people don't 'follow their dream', but I don't think it's the main reason.
The main reason, I think, is that it's just real hard to wander off the beaten path. I suspect the primary problem is those first steps and then keeping at it for a while. We are taught from very early on, especially if our parents were 'normal' middle-class people, to do the 'normal' thing.
But based on my interactions with people who 'do their own thing', it seems quite feasible, and often a good recipe for happiness, and not so hard to keep up once you've done it for a while.
Actually, most people don't tell you to follow your dreams. Most people tell you you'd be crazy to give up a "good paying job", i.e. one of those ones where they keep the vast majority of profit from your work effort for themselves. Most people get angry and defensive at the slightest suggestion that you're doing something different from them, that you have a different set of priorities that doesn't allow for you to take the same path as them.
1. Unattainable or unsustainable for the vast majority of people.
2. Not as good as it sounds on paper.
3. Economically infeasible.
Otherwise we would all be cartoonists.
EDIT: Maybe I'm not 'getting it'. Considering that other HN thread on the front page where everyone complains about contrarianism, I have to wonder if theres something fundamental here that I'm not seeing.