So many people are desperate to find their passion. Where is it? Where could it be hiding? Why does everyone else know what theirs is and I don’t?
It’s a very good question, and a lifetime quest for many. In my opinion we all DO know what our passion is. It’s just been buried very deep under many years and layers of social convention. Familial expectation. Rampant perfectionism. Societal obligation. But it’s there. It’s ALWAYS there. Once you start to peel back the layers it’s always lurking. Inside.
The mistake most people make is that they start their quest looking out there for it, way out there, looking for clues and pointers in the outside world, in other people who seem to have things all worked out and whose carefully curated social media lives seem effortless and perfect. No hassles. Ease and flow and good times and passion and connection all the way.
The thing is, this outward focus sets us off with a wrong steer in three ways. Firstly the answer to finding your passion does not lie outside you. It lies deep deep within. The answer is to be found by amping up your connection with yourself, peeling back those layers that have got in the way and disconnected you from what makes your soul sing — not with endlessly scanning a searchlight over what others have found.
Secondly, people expect finding and living their passion to come announced by a trumpet of angels and a fanfare and a cloud of fairy dust. “Dadahhhhh! Here I am! I am your passion! You should OBVIOUSLY dedicate your life to me! All will be well! Nothing will ever hassle you again! I am here! It’s me!”
Yeah but nah bro … once we start peeling back the layers, our passions actually far more often announce themselves in a more subtle way. Far more of a whisper at first than a raucous shout. A gentle insistent whisper … that this … yes this … is the right way …keep going. More of a knowing, a connecting to “ohhhh yes I’ve been here all along, just waiting for you” than a triumphant arrival with full cavalcade.
When you connect with your passion it is much more of a homecoming than an arrival. When you reconnect with that part of you it’s way less a novel discovery than it is a spiritual repatriation.
And the third thing that stops people finding their passion? Well they expect it to come with no hassle factor. That all will be sunbeams and ease, forevermore. But here’s the thing. There are still annoying phone calls to be made. GST still has to be done. Not everyone agrees with you all the time. Even when you are doing what you really want to be doing. What you are meant to be doing. Even when you are serving the world in the way only you can do it. Even when you are making a difference and growing or building or creating your heart’s desire, the wi-fi connection will still inexplicably sometimes go down. The bins will still need emptying once a week.
Finding your passion and working it or living it doesn’t mean life has no hassle factor. What it does mean is that you have found something you are passionate enough about that it outweighs the hassle factor.
A certain amount of hassle factor is inevitable. Finding your passion doesn’t mean you get to opt out of that. It doesn’t mean there will be no more awkward conversations, or difficult choices. It just means you have found something that is bigger, way bigger, than your hassle factor.
Through her online Happiness programme “Wellbeing Warriors”, life coach Louise Thompson helps people unlock their happiest and healthiest life. Sign up at louisethompson.com and find more from Louise at bite.co.nz/wellbeing