Your passion?
Recently my fitness trainer posted a picture to Facebook of her daughter meeting two YouTube dancers that she considers idols. It took me back to a day in high school when I met my then idol. At the Manhattan location of a now defunct department store you could get the latest Julia Child’s cookbook, the Way to Cook and have it signed if purchased with a store credit card. So I borrowed my mother’s card and set off for Manhattan to get the cook book (see photo above for signature). That week my homeroom teacher asked what we did over the weekend, and I said, “I met my idol” and told the story. Considering that my 12th grade classmates predicted that in 20 years I would have a cooking show on PBS ( it was pre Food Network days) it made sense to them that Julia Child was my idol. Also, I remember offering to pay my mother back and in her true fashion she wouldn’t let me. Like a lot of people, I had multiple passions at the time. My love of ancient Rome and Greece won out and I got my BA in Classical Civilizations. However, our passions can change over time, and you can be like my neighbor, Mary. She left a career in retail to go back to school and become a special education teacher in the NYC public school system (and has no regrets).
How do you find your passion?
“Passion doesn't really work that way. Before you can pursue your passions, you need to discover what your passions are. You'll likely have to work many days, in many ways, to discover the work that taps into your passion.” — Maggie Wooll, BetterUp
To find your passion, you need to “do.” As Goldilocks tried the beds and porridge until she found the right one, you might need to try several jobs to find the one you are passionate about. One place to start is to think about your core values, beliefs and what makes you smile. You might find that volunteer work you enjoy or a hobby you are pursuing can be turned into a profitable career (Corrina Gordon-Barnes, The Muse). Once you have done this you will need to be honest about the fears you have that could stop you in your tracks. Also, you wiil need to write down a “passion” statement to clarify what exactly it is. It is simple to say, “I am passionate about animal welfare.” Yet, it is more precise to say I want to be a vet or work at an animal rescue or as in a story I just heard of being vegan and becoming in-house council at PETA.
As I stated early in the article understanding your beliefs and values (and writing them down) is key to understanding your passion. If you have read my “Meet Mali” page on my website, you know that I never became an archaeologist and in fact translated this to a career working in non-profits for many years (even as a graphic designer most of my clients were non-profits). And now I am clients centered as a life coach.
What your passion is now, may not be your passion in years to come and that is the nature of life— a winding road. In the fall, I will be offering a group coaching program that will include, you guessed it, creating a personal value and mission statement to help you pursue your passion and achieve your goals. If the saying is “your body is a temple”, then my saying is “your life is a business, so treat it like one”. Hence developing mission and value statement as part of my group program (details to follow).