On Finding Your Passion.

Finding my passion, how to find my passion … when I ask myself that question, I think, how do (or did) I find my passion? What is a passion, in today’s terms? 

I think about people on social media and in history who found theirs—or say they found their passion. What about past presidents? Authors? Even influencers? Or, what about the person walking past you on the street? Does anyone find their passion, or do you just go through life doing small, ordinary (or big) things that make you happy? 

I think it’s a mixture of both. 

I think you can find your passion by doing things that you love, doing things that make you happy. When you do things that bring you genuine joy—even if those things that seem small and mundane to you—you start to unlock your potential which leads to “finding your passion.” 

So, I must give an example. When I went off to college, I wanted to major in PR (public relations). Knowing I wanted to work in PR and be a publicist, but I absolutely had no clue on why (or how!) I wanted to do that. I just knew I wanted that. However, as years went on, I found myself back to writing. I made editor-in-chief of a campus publication, wrote for the campus newspaper, and even started my own blog my senior year of college. I found writing—or if I must be cheesy, writing found me. It eventually led me to working in editorial—something that I did not expect when I first started college. (Although, if you go back in time to a random Sunday brunch at Olive Garden, my dream was to be a sports reporter. Anyway.) 

So, I wanted to work in PR but my love of writing (creative, feature, etc.) caught up with me and I started to write for fun. And then it became my passion, something that I genuinely love to do. 

And that’s how—I think—you find your passion. By doing the things that you love. Finding your passion isn’t only about paying for a four-year university degree or getting all the right internships … it’s about figuring out what makes you happy. (With a little bit of therapy mixed in there, too.) 

And that leads me into my next point I’d like to make—your passion does not have to be monetized. (Even if you aren’t a writer/blogger, this piece of advice is for everyone!) Now, would I like to make money off my blog? Would I like to make it a side hustle? Absolutely. Do I sometimes put a lot of pressure on the blog (and my writing ideas) to make it profitable and monetizable? Sure. But when I do that, when I get caught up in trying to make it an actual money-making side hustle, I try and get back to why I started blogging and writing in the first place: because it makes me happy. 

Writing, one of my passions and things that I enjoy, is a stress relief; I write when I’ve been super anxious about something. 

So, do the things that you love. Do the things that make you happy. I’m not promising that you will find your passion overnight, but life shouldn’t be about strictly finding your passion anyway. Do the things that you love, with the people that you love, and your passion will come along in unexpected places. 

QUESTION: What are some of the things that you love to do? How has doing the things that you love helped you to find your passion? And please tell me, what is your passion?