In one of my recent articles I published on this blog, people repeatedly commented they had no clue how to ‘find their calling’ or their ‘passion’. I therefore though I’d provide people with some more advice to this.
Now let’s get one thing straight right here… ‘find your passion’ is the single most terrible piece of advice there is and odds of it ever helping you are lower than a priest and a stripper going on a date.
But why is this?
To begin with, the word ‘passion’ is not an actionable word. Most of us don’t even have the slightest clue what it means, what it’s supposed to mean, or what it looks like.
If you look up the definition of ‘Passion‘, the second definition you get is; ‘the suffering and death of Jesus’. Now, if you believe in Jesus or not, is completley irrelvant with the point I’m about to make. What is important, is the word SUFFERING.
If you read my happiness article, which by the way, is the most viewed article on this blog, then you know that life is about a constant suffer that we create through solving our problems. Why? Because problems are the single constant in life that we all have. The key lies in choosing the problems we want to solve in order to create a meaningful life.
Let me ask you this…
What are you willing to suffer for? What problems are you willing to solve in life? What problems do you enjoy solving?
This should make you think a little.
If it doesn’t, here is a more radical approach…
What SHIT do you ENJOY eating? What DIRT are you willing to eat?
By now you should understand that life is basically constructed of suffering and pain. That’s it. All we have to do is choose what pain we enjoy enduring.
Many people believe that passion is something to be found through some sort of cosmic journey or something they find whilst stepping out of bed in the morning.
It’s not! And it’s unlikely to change any time soon!
Your ‘passion’ or ‘calling’ is simply the result of your daily problems you solve. And once you become really really really good at solving your problems, your enjoyment for solving problems will manifest itself into your passion. Passion, therefore, is an end-result. It is like profit in a company. It’s what you get out of the constant ‘sufferage’ of solving problems you enjoy solving.
In case you have no clue how to answer some if these questions above, don’t stress out just yet! Here are some things you can do…
- Try things. Try as many things you think you MIGHT enjoy. Internships, jobs, university courses, reading different book genres, different sports etc. Try stuff!
- Travel. Seriously, get out there and experience as much as you can. By being exposed to the world, you get to see and be inspired by things you will could have never thought of. I understand you may be tight on money and that you have a family at home. But just remember this: If something is important enough, you will make it work, no matter what. And if you don’t, well then, stop complaining.
- Read. Literally, read as much as you can. If you don’t like reading plug in an audiobook or watch a documentary. Remember, it’s about being exposed to as many things as possible, so that one of these things can possibly stimulate or evoke feelings of euphoria inside of you.
- Be patient. Nothing will happen over night, and no, nothing is likely to happen within the next 3 months. Finding something you truly believe in takes TIME! So don’t freak out just yet. Be patient and always remind yourself of it. 🙂
Hope I could help 🙂
Thanks for reading,