Have You Found Your Passion Yet?

Have you found your passion yet? After working with thousands of people, I know finding your passion will help make all of your life better.

Maybe we’ve all been looking in the wrong places?

My passion is exploring and learning about new things and putting them into practice and sharing with and teaching others.

When I got a job many years ago that came with a staff; I began reading everything I could on managing people. 

It never occurred to me to not go home after working all day and read up on how to be a supervisor. Then I would put the things that made sense into practice, then go read some more.

When part of my job at a college involved teaching people how to write resumes; it never occurred to me to not read everything possible on the subject and get training on my own time, with the determination to be the best resume writer in Texas.

Now that I understand my own passion in life better; I understand why no one job field feels like my passion. There are many things I can do or learn to do. I understand why once I master something, I get restless and want to try something else.

I have used my passion in many different jobs or careers. That’s why it had been so confusing. I would jump in with enthusiasm and the bigger the challenge the more I enjoyed it.

And that’s why I missed what my passion was. I would confuse the new subject/project/job/hobby with the act of learning and mastering it.

I was never meant to find one thing and one thing only as a passion. My true calling was in doing many things. 

I also think I have a secondary life calling in organizing and teaching. I loved the process of taking subject matter and making it easier to understand by breaking it into teachable parts.

Have You Found Your Passion Yet?

Perhaps like many people, you haven’t identified a true PASSION yet. And that’s okay. From my experience, that in no way means you aren’t using it. Or that it isn’t leaving clues for you.

Your passion may be a thin thread weaving through your life. Over the years, you will pick up other threads and with luck, these threads will weave into a tapestry that you can’t completely ignore.

Finding my PASSION hasn’t been like falling madly and passionately in love. It’s not like the infatuation of a mad hot love affair. 

It’s like having a friend for many many years and then one day waking up and realizing that this isn’t just a friend, it’s like your best friend, and then you realize that it’s really the love of your life.

Twenty-Five years ago, I sat in my first counseling class, sure I had discovered my true passion. In fact, though, it set off a 25-year search for my passion. I read so many books on the subject and took so many quizzes!

Many sources recommend following your bliss or your curiosity. Doing that is totally cool and can lead to many fun experiences. However, I didn’t find that it ever led to me having the feeling of finding my passion.

So, I’m encouraging you to look into the HOW of how you are living your life. How do you do things? How have you always UNIQUELY approached situations and experiences. Look deep into your personal operating system.

How do I know I’ve found my PASSION? I feel it bone-deep as the one true thing that has been with me all along. I feel empowered because I know that my passion isn’t just a one-night stand, it’s the true love I can totally count on.

In fact, knowing my PASSION, kind of makes me feel fearless. 

Because I now know what it is and what it’s done for me all these years, I know I can go into any new situation and probably do well. Not only that, but I can probably do it really well!

One last thing. Because of the nature of my passion, I often felt like a loser because I didn’t fit the American mold of success by picking something and sticking with it for years.

I remember a conversation with my then-husband in the car. I can’t remember anything about it but one statement he made. “Sara, I just don’t understand you. In my experience, people pick a career and just keep doing it.” I felt a lot of shame about not being able to do that.

Instead, I now treasure my incurable curiosity and life experiences that helped me discover my true calling in life. 

I think if I had had the insight into my passion earlier, I could have been much kinder to myself. So, this is just a thought, but maybe your passion is something that makes you feel different in some way.

How to Find Your Passion

If you want to make your life fulfilling, one way is to determine your own passion in life. Think of this as finding your own lost treasure chest.

You will discover your own true calling by asking yourself some key questions and applying curiosity to your answers.

Ideally the answer will jump out at you at some point and you’ll be better able to use this information in alignment with all you do.

Journaling is a great way to capture your answers. Then you can just let it all percolate

Look back on past experiences 

I’m going to suggest looking at your past through two different lenses. One is what did you do well. Where did you shine? 

Then I also want you to look at what seemed like a problem at times.

For me, what I did really well was figure out how to do things. Eventually, I learned that I was also great at breaking things down and explaining them to others or teaching others how to do things.

The seeming problem was that I didn’t “stick” with things. I would accomplish something and then move on.

Now from my vantage point, I see how this taught me a lot over the years! As a life coach, I pull from all my experiences of being a mentor, a counselor, a career coach, a resume writer, a life-long reader, and now a life coach. 

All of these experiences pointed me in the direction of my true north start. 

Where have you made a difference?

Here is a powerful technique I developed as a career coach and resume writer. I ask people to describe challenges they faced, how they solved it, and what was the result.

You can do this too. Think back and come up with three really challenging things you faced that you solved that created a better way of doing things, a new system, more profit, less waste, or any other positive result. 

Then break it down into HOW you solved these problems.

These can come from any area of your life.

What are you known for?

Finally, think about what you are known for. It might be what you get praised for and it might be what annoys other people.

Think about what you just had a knack for. 

But look at these with curiosity and compassion. The hardest thing about doing this, may be that you still judge yourself about what you think you didn’t do correctly.

However, through these powerful questions, you can find the gold in all your experiences. With a healthy dose of self-reflection, you can begin seeing your life through a different lens too. 

Then you can take small steps towards building an aligned life that has your passion as its foundation.

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