This is terrible advice in the general. I've known lots of people following this advice, to peruse a career in a field that doesn't really pay much. Ended up struggling and stressed.
I feel really sorry for you and your friends who spend your lives doing what you don't enjoy for the sake of some 0's on your bank account. Also, I'm not saying go pick flowers for a living. But you should at least enjoy what you do, which fosters continual growth (to become an expert, you must grow).
Most people don't enjoy struggling and the stress of not being pay the bills.
Trust me, that's more stressful than a job fairly your fairy 'meh' about. It's much more likely to burn you out.
Most passions, when you turn it into job, just ruins the passion(Having done this myself). You go from something that's creative into something where cost, and timelines matter and you have very little personal input.
I understand where your coming from and I'm sure theres a happy medium. Doing just money or just enjoyment wont work as well as a proper balance.
But, to play devils advocate... Having worked in a high paying, crap job and moving into a job with lower pay but much more aligned with my passion I am MUCH happier
That makes a lot of sense. I have been battling with the paradox of choice. Everyday I try to start a new project but instead I just keep on googling Angular vs React, Asp.net vs Django.
I have a windows computer and visual studio seems like the best tool I can use , so simple to set up. I enjoy working with it, maybe I should take the risk and just dive into that technology.
Build a simple project with asp as the backend and react on the front end. Then swap the backend to something else you have been considering vs asp.net, like rails or Django or node.js. Then swap the front end to something else like angular2. If the project is simple, you can do each of these swaps in a few days, and then you will have a better understanding of each, instead of just wondering.
What is questionable, imo, is this worldview which you and another have mentioned.
What a sad way to live, fulfilling other peoples needs in exchange for 0's, instead of trying to fulfil your needs for intellectual growth, joy, etc. while _also_ supplying an end product or service of some sort.
You realize you can enjoy what you do, love what you do even, and still exchange a product/service for money? In fact, you'll likely do better as people will sense your _passion_ about what you are selling, as opposed to seeing you chase the 0's