You can’t find your passion thinking about it in your head
Marie Forleo
There was a time not too long ago that I was actively seeking for a moment when I will somehow, get to ‘know’ what my true calling, passion and purpose as a matter of fact, was.
The thing is that I had tried my hands at what I believed were my passions and for so many reasons, things did not work out the way I wanted.
So I began thinking that maybe, by having an aha! moment of what my singular, great passion is, I would then proceed with so much gusto to pursue it, live purposefully, significantly impact my sphere of influence and build a legacy on it.
Perfect plan.
You won’t believe that I was literally waiting for it to hit me.
Like every day.
Well, finally, I got my breakthrough moment and trust me, it did not come as I thought.
Neither was it the answer I had been looking forward to. In fact, it was totally different from what I had expected.
You may have found yourself doing some serious soul-searching on finding your passion and living in your purpose. That is probably why you are reading this right now.
You may have been asking yourself some seriously tough questions and needing real, honest answers just like me at the time.
Well, here is one answer.
Your true passion(s) simply lie in the ‘doing’ of life.
I will explain using this insight I gained from a recently published book by Ibukun Onitiju titled “Passionless”. In the book, he posited that “finding your passion” can be a life-long pursuit, which may never be realized.
He adds that we struggle because the quest to ‘find our passion’ keeps us distracted, unable to focus on what we have at the moment and hinders us from giving our best in what we currently do as we unknowingly save our best selves for the imaginary passion that we are yet to find.
His advice therefore, is that we are ‘to cultivate our passions’ because “You build it, not find it… stop trying to find your passion by thinking about it, let your passion find you by going about your life.”
I had heard this said in so many ways, from some dear people in my life that I simply needed to ‘do’ more.
And I’m thinking that I did not pay attention at that time because I was busy waiting for some, maybe divine inspiration of what I am to pursue to realize this truth which is —
“That it is by deliberately pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, exploring the things that you are naturally drawn to, opening up yourself to new experiences, trying out new things and constantly seeking opportunities to learn, that you find the things that you like and enjoy.”
I will back this up with a quote by Mark Manson
“Discovering what you are passionate about in life and what matters to you is a full-contact sport, a trial-by-fire process. None of us know exactly how we feel about an activity until we actually do that activity.”
Read, also: The good thing about failure
Really, forget the ‘gurus’ who give listicles of what to do in order to find your passion and take it from me, those things don’t work if you are not willing to be adventurous with your life.
This is where many people don’t get it.
You will spend precious time waiting for a magical moment to happen when you should have been courageous enough to try new things, have novel experiences and gain fresh perspectives.
Even if they don’t pan out. No regrets.
Sooner or later over time, you will figure out what you naturally gravitate to; are effortlessly good at (if not, you may need to work on getting better at it) and then build on it (them).
It is in the doing that you ‘find’ and ‘know’ what your passion is.
Simple.
Your life purpose also becomes clearer in the pursuit of your passion(s) because as you keep ‘doing’, the clarity that you need to guide you on that path will keep shining like a light.
Rumi, a 13th century poet and scholar says “As you walk on the way, the way appears.”
It’s like being in a dark tunnel and the light (clarity) illuminates the way, leading you on, showing you how far you’ve come and the possibilities ahead of you.
Now I must say this, passion is not a get-out-of jail-free card that once you find it; all your problems vanish into thin air. No. You will experience bad days as you put it in the work. What happens however is that you somehow are able to keep going because it’s a part of you. It is now your thing.
It is your passion.
In addition, contrary to popular beliefs, you can have many passions, I cannot tell you how many to have because you are to decide for yourself. This is because most people are multi-talented and can express their talents, skills in several ways. Your focus however, should be to continuously enhance your passions for your benefit or/and the greater good.
In conclusion.
If you have been trying so hard to ‘find your passion and purpose’; the best advice I am giving you right now is this — Get Doing.
It is really that simple.
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