“Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.” -Jon Bon Jovi
There came a point when I had begun feeling exhausted with the predictability and monotony of life. I felt that there should definitely be more to life than repeating the same day over and over again.
Life sure was much more than living on autopilot, loathing Mondays and desperately waiting for the weekends.
My sense of fulfillment or satisfaction was missing and that bothered me. I wanted a change. A permanent change. I wanted to wake up every morning with enthusiasm and excitement to commence my day. I wanted a kind of life in which no matter what day of the week it is, I would always feel positive and energetic.
My boredom, however, turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
It fueled my drive towards self-reflection. I realized that I am responsible for my happiness and if I wished to change my life for good, I must take matters in my own hand.
I must pursue something that I truly loved.
Something that I was passionate about…
PASSION!
Discovering my passion and being able to pursue it…
That’s what I needed to do.
Following my passion would keep me motivated, excited. My life would be full of adventure, enthusiasm, and loads of happiness…
Or at least, that’s what I thought…
By far my journey of following my passion has been rather interesting. My efforts towards pursuing my passion helped me discover some very intriguing facts about ‘PASSION.’
1) The first step in discovering passion is being able to clearly define it.
Passion is a ‘strong feeling’.
It’s not a job, business, or activity. It’s an experience.
Passion is ignited within us when we are doing something we absolutely love to do. Something that we are subconsciously drawn towards. It is a cocktail of feelings of desire, enthusiasm, purpose, satisfaction, excitement, and love.In order to discover my passions, I had to observe the moments when I experienced the delicious blend of all these emotions. My quest for passion taught me to pay attention towards my own feeling.
2) ‘Passion’ is not the solution to life’s problems.
I learned that the people who follow their passion or pursue their dreams are NOT in a constant state of happiness. They don’t have it all figured out. Passion or no passion the problems will still persist.
People often say, ‘If only I knew what exactly my passion is, my life would be so much better…’
Passion is not a ‘magic potion’ that automatically fixes everything. However, passion is the first line of the story we wish to write for ourselves. The way that story will turn out depends on the choice that we make every single day.
3) Our passion is not limited to things we already know or are good at.
As Zig Ziglar said, “When you catch a glimpse of your potential, that’s when passion is born.”
When it comes to pursuing our passion, naturally we tend to look into the things that we like to do or the talents that we possess. Passion, however, goes much beyond that.
Passion isn’t always a childhood dream.
Just liking something is not enough. We gotta assess whether or not it is worth it. We might like an idea of doing something but in order to continue doing it, we gotta have the clarity of reason. We got to be clear about the potentiality of the work we are doing. We gotta keep our options open, we gotta expose ourselves to different opportunities. Cause the only thing that will motivate us to work passionately towards our passion is the fuel of purpose and potential.
4) Try to be the best version of yourself and ‘passion’ will follow you.
A good life is a result of multiple positive choices. Instead of stressing about finding and following our passion we must strive towards constant improvement of our life, one choice at a time. Every decision we make towards minimizing the stress and negativity of that day will take us one step closer towards our passion. In order to explore our passion, we must have a clarity of mind. And we can clear our mind only when we are aware of the things that are cluttering it.
I have realized how much of a significant role passion plays in my life. Passion gives a meaning to my existence.Now, I try to add a dash of passion every single day and keep on experimenting with the different flavors of feelings that create passion within me.
It might take me years until I find the perfect recipe of the ‘Passion’ that will transform my life forever…
But no matter what..I won’t stop trying…