Do What You Love or Love What You Do?

By Dr. Bruce Eichelberger

Just out of high school I got what I thought was a perfect job. I was a school bus driver in the suburbs of L.A. It was perfect for me at that time because I could support myself while also having lots of free time during the day, on weekends and on holidays. I used this extra time to study, learn and practice the things that were most interesting to me, namely the Oriental healing arts.

After a number of years of study I had the opportunity to teach and practice my healing work at a local martial arts studio. I jumped at the chance but was also nervous about leaving the steady income I received from the bus driving job. As a compromise I kept the driving job and used the extra time it offered me to teach classes and develop a practice seeing clients. I also kept detailed records of the income from both sources.

A few months into this process it was clear to me that I not only made 3-4 times more money with the healing work, but I also really loved doing it. Still, I was nervous about giving up my regular paycheck. As a result of this conflict I stopped enjoying driving the bus. Every day became drudgery for me to get up early and hit L.A. traffic to pick up the kids.

In the following few months I discovered something that has served me well ever since. I discovered that my attitude about driving the school bus (or doing anything else) made all the difference in how much I enjoyed it. When I spent my time worrying about giving up the paycheck and wishing I could spend more time doing what I loved, the driving was an awful burden. This went on for several months.

Then, with about 3 months left in the school year I made a shift. I decided that I would finish out the school year, then take the summer off and just do healing work. I was determined to make a decision about returning to driving a month or so into summer. I also decided that since I might only have a few more months of driving the school bus, I'd better enjoy it while I could.

The decision to enjoy driving again changed everything. All of a sudden I started looking forward to greeting the kids every day. I spent time talking with them when they got on the bus at the end of the day. 'Problem kids' stopped being problems and life was much, much easier. Interestingly, even the healing work I was doing got better.

After that summer I never went back to school bus driving. But the lesson of choosing to love what I was doing stayed with me and led to many more opportunities to do what I love ever since.

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