What are you passionate about?
Today’s world is more focused on the fast paced style that we have set for ourselves than the dreams and hopes that once fueled our aspirations. We get so very caught up in our responsibilities that the obligations and expectations of our lives makes for a more important goals than our true passions. Many people feel that if they focus on themselves they are being selfish and cutting the attention to the other aspects of their lives that they have deemed more important, thus leaving room for those inner most desires lacking.
In order to attempt a self-help method of reintroducing happiness and passion into our lives, we must first ask ourselves a few questions. What made us happy as children? What life goals did we have when we were young? What did we want to be?
The first step to finding happiness is realizing what it is that makes you want to get up and start moving in the morning. Those aspects of life that leave you whistling are the ones that hold the key to the passions of life.
As we grow up and grow older, we often take the more traveled road to adulthood. We attend college and achieve degree status in order to obtain a “real” job. This conformation to societal ideals about living often leave the passions that once gave us fire and hope dead in the water. Women give up their dreams to raise children, men leave the their true callings behind for fear of not being what their families would hope they would become. When we leave our passions behind, who are we really becoming and is that person the true person we always wanted to be?
Discovering your passion may actually be difficult if it’s been dormant for an extended period of time. It may have even changed. To answer the question, what are you passionate about, may require that you spend time and energy seriously considering your likes and dislikes. Think back to your youth and the things that interested you as a child or teenager. Think about projects or hobbies you worked on that left you exhilarated. Write in your journal or look through past journal entries and find the pattern of things that leave you feeling better about your day. If you listen to your heart, the answer will reveal itself rivaled by little else.
Once you discover your passion, pursue it! For some, it may be scary to step outside of the norm and onto a path less traveled. But personal growth only happens when we extend ourselves beyond our usual boundaries. You don’t have to neglect your responsibilities to pursue your passion. It may simply be to take an art class at a local community center or you may find that you wish to switch careers and become a graphic designer. Determine what you are passionate about and then find ways to embrace it.
There is no amount of money in the world that can measure up to the payment your passion can provide. While the payment may not increase your checkbook or give you that promotion at work, it will give you back a sense of yourself that has been lost for a very long time.
Stop right now and think about those things that made youth so wonderful. If only for a moment, take a step back 10, 20, 30, 50 years and find that one thing that drove your mind to the limits of happiness. Once you have that thought firmly in your grasp, go for it!
About the Author:
About The Author: Elliott Roberts writes for Becomng, a Personal Development blog, discussing ideas from How To Become Wealthy to Productivity, and more. Visit Becomng, and change your life forever!