What are you passionate about? Do you even know? Many people (especially older folks) have given up on their passion as a distant memory of their youth. They have resigned themselves to a life of dullness, of doing what they “should” do instead of what inspires them.
You know – putting in 40 hours a week (or more) at some job, one with benefits. Go on vacation a couple of weeks a year. Get a new car every few years, send the kids to college…and hope they don’t move back in!
They have lost touch with what excites them, what fires their imagination. They live their
lives, as Henry David Thoreau said, in “quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”
Is that what you want for yourself – a life of quiet desperation, never singing the song you were meant to sing?
To avoid that sorrowful fate, you need to figure out what your passion is. Here are some of the signs of true passion:
- You can’t wait to get at it.
- It doesn’t feel like work.
- You lose track of time.
- It’s a major topic of conversation with you.
- You see it virtually everywhere you look.
- It makes your life more vibrant, more colorful.
- You can’t imagine doing anything else.
- You want to share it.
- It makes you feel more alive.
- You are driven to do it.
Still no idea? That’s OK; your passion is there – we just need to excavate it and bring it to life.
How to get in touch with your passion
The first step is to make a list, stream of consciousness, of what makes you feel great. Don’t think about it and don’t worry about putting it in any particular order. Just write down everything you can think of.
Be as wild and crazy as you like. Don’t scratch off anything. Then go back and look at your list. Do you see any common threads, any patterns?
For example, do the things that make you feel great center around helping others? Getting fit? Writing? Travel? Building things with your hands? Writing computer code? Cooking? You want to connect with the feeling that inspires you and keeps you moving when you get down in the dumps. Look for it, recognize it and embrace it.
Check out your list again. Pay particular attention to anything that seems nutty, out of the question, absurd, ridiculous and so on. Are any of these things connected to your passion? We often get disconnected from our passion by well-meaning people who say they want the best for us, but who may instead be motivated (innocently and otherwise) by what’s best for them – not you.
Your passion of becoming a world-renown chef, for instance, could be derailed by loved ones who don’t want you to go off the culinary school and leave them behind. Your desire to invent marvelous new things could be discounted by people who fear they would lose status or income should you quit your job to pursue your dream.
Once you’ve identified your passion – what gets you out of bed in the morning – then look at your life. Are you doing what you’re passionate about? If not, what’s the first step you can take to make this passion the centerpiece of your life? Please share your comments below.