It's a lesson that, for whatever reason, I learned when I was young, and feel lucky to have done so. When you have a passion for something (for me, reptiles, dogs, horses, photography, development work), you have a choice to make. Do you choose to keep your passion as a hobby, enjoy it to the max, but don't expect to make any money or change the world - just be happy with your own efforts and the self-satisfaction of what you can achieve on your own.
Or, you can choose to make your passion a career. There is often hard work and many years of little to no money, frustrations, pressure on other areas of your life, and more than likely, the thing that you originally had a passion for will become as much as chore as anything else, even if it's a chore you still enjoy.
Neither option is right or wrong - there's just the decision you make. I made the choice to keep photography purely as a hobby, as well as the dogs and horses. Having gone and come back to Vietnam, I will probably make the same decision about development work, keeping my efforts to short-term, highly focused projects rather than working within the bureaucracy of the larger organisations. The reptiles, I'd like to try simply to break even, if possible, but I'm going to damn well enjoy myself in the meantime
So, what will I do for
real work? Ummmmm......