We should be heartened (and draw courage) from the fact that amateur comes from the Latin word for “lover” by way of French– that is, in the original sense of the word, an amateur is someone who participates in the arts, or sports, or whatever– for love of the thing. For love, not pay.

It took time for the word to acquire its present connotation of “unskilled” or “untalented.” No harm in taking honest pride in being amateurs in the good original sense.