But what is my passion?
I've been looking for a passion for almost as long as I can remember. I did classical dance with little enthusiasm, basketball with limited enthusiasm, I dedicated 2 years of my life to contemporary poetry, I collected postcards, and I still spend many hours learning about typography, Formula 1, and pointillism. I’ve always wanted to have a passion and I envy those people who are able to spend an enormous amount of time practicing a sport, an art, or an activity, while I flit from one thing to another.
I think I’m passionate, but not in the long term 😁. I’m capable of getting fired up about a subject, dwelling on it for varying lengths of time, and then one fine day moving on to something else. Is it that I’m not tenacious or invested enough? Or maybe it’s just that passion isn’t always what you think it is.
Preconceived ideas about passions
The first thing to understand when you’re looking for your passion is that THE passion, the one and only passion that will follow you throughout your life, doesn’t always exist. Passions evolve with age, experience, and context. So to find what we’re passionate about, we’d have to start by making a list of what we enjoy, what we like doing, and what we do well.
🙆 Anything can be a passion! There’s no point comparing ourselves to those whose passion fills their lives, or even those who have made a career out of it. Sometimes our passions are simply the things we enjoy doing most and aren’t necessarily our life’s goal.
When it comes to passion, let’s avoid limiting ourselves. But while anything can be a passion, let’s be realistic about the ambitions we put behind a passion. Just because I discovered that I love singing doesn’t mean I’m going to become Adele. We need to be honest with ourselves, and it’s this honesty that will help us to live our passion to the full without pressure or fear of failure.
How do we find what we’re passionate about?
Life’s short, so don’t wait any longer to find that little thing that will allow you to take back the reins of your life. I warn you, looking for what makes you happy requires introspective work that can be overwhelming, but when you find your passion or passions, life suddenly makes more sense 😊. So to help you, here’s a list of 14 questions to ask yourself:
- 1. What would I do if money weren’t an object?
- 2. What would I like people to say about me at my funeral?
- 3. What things am I good at (the things I get compliments on and seem to do better than others)?
- 4. What activities made me happy as a child?
- 5. What job did I dream of doing as a child?
- 6. What activity makes me lose track of time?
- 7. What do I do with my free time?
- 8. What subjects do I like to talk about?
- 9. What boosts my creativity?
- 10. Am I a solitary or sociable person?
- 11. Do I like being indoors, or do I need to be outdoors?
- 12. Am I more of a manual type or not at all?
- 13. What was the last thing I enjoyed learning?
- 14. On the last day of my life, what’s the one thing I’d regret not having done?
These questions are designed to help you find out what you’re really passionate about by rekindling the flame of childhood, a time of innocence, far from adult fears, responsibilities, and prejudices. They also allow you to get to know yourself better, to target your interests, the sectors that interest you, and those that make you dream. But there are other ways of finding your passion:
- 👉 Be curious and open-minded,
- 👉 Spend time doing the things you love,
- 👉 Accept mistakes and above all, accept that things aren’t always easy.
Finding your passion also means going out of your comfort zone, silencing your limiting beliefs, and doing things even if they require effort and time. A passion may be a passion, but that doesn’t stop it from being restrictive, thankless, or difficult. However, doing what you love to do gives meaning to your life, so in the end you have everything to gain from finding your passion or passions!
Editor’s note: It’s ok not to have a passion!You don’t have a passion, just hobbies, nothing more? Don’t worry, that’s fine! As psychoanalyst Eric Bénevaut explains, “there are few people who aren’t interested in anything, except those who are depressed. On the other hand, there are an infinite number of people who have no desire to delve deeper into subjects or activities, either because it’s in their character or because they don’t want to cut themselves off from this diversity of possibilities”. We make passion an ultimate goal to achieve, it’s highly valued in our society and as a result, when we don’t have one, we can feel guilty or wonder if we’re normal. 🙃 There are no norms in this area, passion or no passion, it doesn’t matter, let each person live as they see fit! It’s all a question of balance, and people who don’t have a passion are no more unhappy than the rest. However, if you feel that something’s wrong or is preventing you from moving forward, don’t hesitate to contact a psychologist. Together, you’ll be able to understand what’s going on inside you and put in place new behaviors that will allow you to spread your wings.
🤗 Understanding yourself, accepting yourself, being happy... It’s here and now!
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