“I don’t know what my passion is,” I thought,“But I know I like to help people.” The more I share this sentiment from my quarter life crisis, the more I hear, “me too.” I think we all want to figure out our passion in life. I mean, isn't that what all the Instagram quotes say? “Find your purpose! Live your best life!” We all know we are supposed to follow our passion, but how the heck do we even discover our passion in the first place?! I'm going to share my 5 questions to figure out your passion in life with you today!
Since 13 years old, I've been working… and before that I was always trying to be the “best” at something. First grade, it was the “lead elf” in our play, second grade, it was my greeting card company, then car washes, Girl Scouts, babysitting, research assistant in psychology, substance abuse and mental health counselor, life skills educator, public speaker, blogger… the list goes on and on.
My entire life has been hopping from thing to thing. I've even said to my husband, “can I stick with anything for more than 3 years?! Or am I just cursed?!”
With each new passion I discovered, I also discovered something I didn't like. While I gathered more skills and confidence, I lost more direction. Nothing ever felt like a perfect fit… the thing I could see myself doing forever.
It was the exact conversation I needed to embrace who I am and my path forward in life.
Here are the 5 questions I've used to navigate my ever-changing career path. I hope they help you figure out your passion in life:
“What am I really great at that comes easy to me that’s not so obvious to others?”
In other words: what are you the go to person for? You may need to ask friends or family for help on this one. Sometimes we are so close to our own genius we can't even spot it.
“What am I constantly doing for free that I'd love to get paid for?”
Passion lies in the things we can't help ourselves from doing. The things we are doing when no one is watching simply because they bring us joy.
“Why do I love to do the things previously listed?”
Go a layer deeper than just listing the things you love to do, by really uncovering your why. For example, yes you may love to be a drummer, but not everyone is going to make an awesome living by being a drummer – or maybe you love it so much because there is no money or string tied to it? But if you can identify WHY you love drumming, it'll help you come up with a list of other things that also support that why.
“What's my Human Design?”
Human Design is by far one of my favorite resources. Click here to discover your type. By discovering your energy type, you can get a better understanding of how to work with your energy rather than against it. For instance, being a therapist was my passion for a long time… then it wasn't. Thanks to Human Design, I realize that it's okay to change my passions, it's in alignment with myself. It'll give you amazing insights on figuring out your passion in life as you try new things or remove things that aren't working for you.
“How can I redefine passion?”
I think we have this idea that a passion is something we are tied to forever because that's what we were taught. And now, there's a growing movement that all of our passions need to be monetized. I think it's important to figure out how YOU define passion, and how much of that definition is in alignment with your soul versus the stories you've picked up from everyone along the way.
For me, passion is an ever-evolving thing as I continue to discover new parts of myself. I trust that I can always re-invent who I am and that all the different paths I've taken are just adding to my quilt of life. No experience has ever been a waste and I constantly find that I'm able to use a skill or some knowledge from my former passions to inform my new ones.
Some other ideas to look at above:
What do your friends trust your advice in?
Is this bringing you joy?
It doesn’t have to be forever, but what can you see yourself doing in the next 3, 5 or 10 years?
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