The people who make their entire living in the arts, doing what they love, “following their bliss”…

Those are the exception. Not the rule.

The vast majority struggle like crazy to achieve obscurity, taking whatever they can to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies.

You have never heard the most beautiful music. You have never seen the most sublime painting, read the greatest novel, seen the most riveting performance.

Those are all trapped inside the person who took your drink order. The person who delivered your package. The person who cleaned the office.

They withered while basic survival sucked that creative energy away. They stagnated while rent was paid.

And they eventually died in the ones who just couldn’t take hearing “No” another time.