Pursuing Your Passion!
I am intentionally making “Pursuing your passion” the first real blog post for the blog because it is so important. In my own case, this blog is an example of me pursuing several of my passions. But for some reason, many people swallow their passions in pursuit of other less meaningful endeavors.
Pursuing your passion is often put in the context of careers and business pursuits. While it certainly belongs there, passions don’t have to relate to your career at all. Although it is ideal to align your career with your passions, it may not be possible. Or, you may have several passions. What then? The most important thing is that you create cycles of positive reinforcement as seen in the diagram below.
Often we put our passions in the closet when pursuing life and justify not pursuing them because there is no time or it has been too long or it’s too expensive. It’s all a matter of prioritization though.
If your passion is playing soccer, then find a team and join it! No, you won’t be as athletic as you were five or ten years ago, but you’ll probably enjoy the competition and camaraderie just as much if not more. If your passion is flying, then yes, that is an expensive hobby. But again, redesigning your life to free up the funds needed to pursue flying and lessons can probably be accomplished if you really make that a priority.
What’s important is to get as many of these perpetuating cycles going in your life as possible. Do things that you enjoy and get fulfillment from. The positivity and energy derived from the activity then encourages you to do more of it. Depending on your passions, you can strengthen one, two, or all three of the three pillars (health, purpose, and love). In the soccer example, you will be strengthening the health pillar, and perhaps the purpose pillar – especially if you assume a leadership role. Similarly, pursuing passions is often an excellent way to meet like-minded people who can then become friends. Friendship strengthens the love pillar.
If you always wanted to be a film director, but have happily settled on being a nurse instead, there is no reason why you can’t join or start a movie-lovers appreciation group. Or if there is a university or film school nearby you could act as a volunteer to help with the students’ projects. There are an infinite number of ways you can integrate passions into your life even if they have been buried in the closet for years. It just takes some drive, initiative, and innovation to make it a reality. And when it becomes a reality, it is all the more worthwhile and fulfilling!
I recommend this book because it shows how to thrive on many interests without feeling scattered, and it equips individuals with powerful life-design strategies:
What do you think? Please share your thoughts using by commenting below and get the dialog started!
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