“you should follow your passions” building your career path, in order to live a fulfilled life.
So you’re on your mid 20’s or 30’s (and not so uncommon 40’s or 50’s) and you hear right and left that one must follow his passions to live a fulfilled life and an happy career path. And here starts the trouble. You have too many hobbies / passions / interests and you don’t know which one to choose. No panic, don’t let perceptions and your mind mess up with you. Having many passions is good, you just need to realize overload at any level isn’t healthy. Imagine there are people who don’t know what their passions are. One way or the other the below insights might help.
There is no “one fits all” solution: Even if many of us have been in the same situation or the other way around (emptiness of passions or lack of interests), every single person will have to find its own sparkle and make his own choices. This is a very personal and individual approach, don’t “follow the crowd” to get out of the woods. Silence and meditation can be of great help in the search of answers.
More is less: One thinks having many options and choices is good as it’s a sign of abundance and different alternatives. Crap. The more you have, the more confused you get.
Warren Buffet approach: You have 20 interests or hobbies? Select the 3 max 5 that you believe are the ones that really make your heart beat. The rest? Throw them out. Literally. Don’t keep them just in case, throw them out and now focus on those 3 or 5. No arguing.
Forget about the long term. Once I was driving to a very important meeting. Got a car accident and never got there. Guess what? The dam world kept on turning. I lost an important deal. I’m in a completely different business now. You live life on its terms, not your terms. The longest term you have is now. Max today (hopefully nothing wrong happens). Live it deeply.
Don’t overthink: Make some plans, but don’t overthink, don’t overdo, don’t over plan. If you don’t overthink you’ll be enjoying your day instead of worrying about a future that you don’t know exists or regretting a past that doesn’t come back. Move on. Period.
Career path isn’t designed upfront: It isn’t waiting for you as you make it in your head. You’ll switch, move, experiment, try, get disappointed, get fired eventually, get to work with people you don’t appreciate that much, eventually love some roles and functions. That’s the most you know about a career path, not putting roles and positions down on a paper neither periods or years ahead.
You will change along the way: All your body cells will change in one year time. You’ll change views, approaches, ideals. How can you commit now for a lifetime? There will be a moment in time that you want this, and next time you want that. The person you’ll be in one year time will be different than the one you are today. Don’t narrow or bind his future.
Real passions vs hobbies vs interests: There are no “real” passions. Or you have a passion or you don’t. Some folks don’t have any. Does it means they need to search it? No. Just experiment things, just try out different stuff, the passion will eventually show up. And they might change along your life, that’s good. It keeps you learning, curious, evolving. Would you like to have the passions you have today for all your life with no new ones? Bbuuuu they would stop being a passion to become a boredom.
Security/control over your life: Forget it. There are a few areas that you can control and take care of, but most of them, you’re not in control. Just accept it. That’s how life is.
Expectations vs Frustrations and disappointment: Any frustration or disappointment is popped up by our expectations, plans or ambitions we’ve set for ourselves. As said earlier you can’t control your external world, therefore do what you have to do, take action according to your decision but detach from expected outcome. Accept what comes your way and try to improve it if it doesn’t suit you.
The excitement of not knowing: imagine you could plan, predict and secure your path. What da heck…what’s the fun? Where’s the excitement? You want to live your life like a movie script where everything is written in advance?
Don’t ask life what is out there for you. Life is asking you questions, every day. The response is on you as responsible for your existence.