Last year, an article written by Lauren Martin entitled “7 Types Of Broke You Need To Be Before You Can Appreciate Being Happy” was widely circulated on social media. Now, I don’t know many people who desire to be broke in any way, but having read the seven types of broke Martin described, I can say that it is so true that it’s hard to appreciate something if you’ve never been without it.
The seven types of broke Martin writes about are:
- Rent poor.
- Travel poor.
- Love poor.
- Friend poor.
- Passion poor.
- Success poor.
- Inspiration poor.
I’ve personally experienced all but one of these types of poor, and it has given me a greater appreciation for the blessings I have now. But since my work involves helping people pursue their passions, let’s focus on #5: passion poor.
Martin describes passion poor as:
Living without passion is one of the hungriest times you’ll face. It’s when the pain in the pit of your stomach is strongest, and when you think you could drown in the emptiness of your being.
You find yourself walking around as a ghost, just wandering, exploring — looking for something to fill you and ignite an ache deep inside you.
If you’ve never been passion poor, you’ve never been hungry enough to go out and find yourself one [a passion]. We’re not all born with passion, the same way we’re not born full. You have to go out and find it. You have to go and feed yourself.
You have to experience a lot of things and go a lot of places you wouldn’t normally go unless you weren’t completely starved of inspiration.
Internal and External Passions
I will say this in response to Martin’s description: I believe there are some passions and longings that grow inside of you even when you’re not looking for them. A personal example of this was my desire to go to Australia. I’m not sure how or why I had that desire, but I do know it started bubbling up in me as a young child, probably as early as four or five years old.
There was something inside me I couldn’t explain, just this feeling of needing to go and see this land of contrasts. That desire never left me, so when I was old enough and had the means to do so, I did something about it. I spent an entire month touring all over Australia’s Northern Territory, the Outback, the Great Barrier Reef, the farmlands, and cities like Sydney.
But there are also passions for things we didn’t know we had until we exposed ourselves to something new and allowed ourselves to experience them. Another personal example would be my passion for stand up paddle boarding. Had I not been curious enough to give it a try, I never would have known how much I would love it. I never would have experienced the joy and health benefits I now get from doing something that’s as close to walking on water as a human can ever get. It’s awesome!
All of this is true when it comes to our work as well. For some people, they’ve always known what their purpose is and what they wanted to do. For others they are still trying to figure it all out. And there are even others who have pursued their inner passion and reached success, but now are trying to figure out what’s next for them. Is this you? Are you currently starved of inspiration? Are you passion poor?
Become Passion Rich
If so, I encourage you to open your mind to something you’ve never done. This could include taking a class on a topic you know nothing about. It could include interviewing someone who you think has a really cool job to find out how they got into that line of work. It could include sitting down with a coach like me to explore some ideas that match your personality and interests. It could even include trying something daring like skydiving!
Go. Find. Discover. Don’t starve your passion, feed your passion!
We’d love to hear from you! In the comment box below, share how you’ve discovered or pursued your own passions. Tell us something new you’re currently exploring. The more you share, the more you are an encouragement to others to pursue their own passions!
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Originally published at www.yourpassioninlife.com on February 16, 2016.