Just go for Adventure!
This week, I had a client ask me about finding her passion and the fact she was struggling to define what it was. She’d been reading a book on the subject that had a questionnaire at the end of it to answer but she was still confused and that led me to sharing some of my own experiences on the subject.
Now I’ve got to admit, I used to be jealous of people who are passionate about what they do. They seemed to have easily found what their passion was and then there was me, who had absolutely no idea and I this found outright frustrating.
Why was that important? Why did I get hung up on it so much? Because something was missing. While I had a great job, career and a decent wage and I was grateful for all of that, I lacked a direction. I wasn’t excited anymore about what I was doing with my life and I wanted to change it.
Find your passion and never work a day in your life
Sounded good to me. So I thought that finding my passion was the answer. I read books about it, answered questionnaires, signed up to countless courses. Nothing worked. I could never answer that question and until I could, I wasn’t prepared to make the jump from my nice cushy, albeit mundane, life – my comfort bubble.
What changed for me was adventure – a year away travelling. The chance to experience things that I’d always wanted to do, things that were completely unknown and new to me. The chance to be free. What I realised was that finding my passion, being able to answer that question definitively, didn’t matter. It was simply getting out there and doing new things that started to bring meaning back to my life.
In the end, my point to the client about finding her passion, discovering something she can get excited about and escaping her own comfort bubble was you can’t ‘think it out’. You’ve got to be prepared to explore, be prepared for adventure and to try new things. If there are things you’re curious about – do them and don’t put them off. And who knows, in doing so, you may even find your passion!
What’s your experience with finding your passion? Leave a comment below.
I think we discover ourselves truly as we interact with our world. The passion that you refer to in your blog must be the expression of our soul’s need and our Devine purpose of the time. So true that you can’t “think it out.” How can passion demonstrate itself and find fuel for its fire without out being exposed to and interacting with life?
I can experience the absence of purpose during dimly lit depressive moods and then later find the inspired power of ‘purpose’ in the same day. When I can or am made to step out of my shelter, I inevitably discover beauty in my world and myself. Interactions with others, glances of nature’s beauty, perceived coincidences and the pleasures of helping others.
Adventure is the key. For sure. Stepping out and choosing to engage with your world. Probably, this is what introduces those who ‘seem to be passionate about what they do’ to their inspired activities.
Perhaps we just end up being passionate when we choose to see life as an adventure??
I love your thinking Nick.
Some great points there Andrew. I especially like your point about stepping out and engaging the world – something that’s very important to do. Thanks for your comment.