Five Reasons to Pursue Your Passions in Life
Do you live to work, or do you work to live? Although at first glance it may seem like those two statements are reflective of the same thing, they certainly are not. It is interesting what a simple reversal of a phrase can do to something’s meaning. For adults, work is an absolute necessity. There will always be bills to pay, responsibilities to fulfill, and so on. But what if our work corresponded with our life’s passions? In times like that, instead of working to live, some of us find that we live to work. Because when we feel like we are doing what we were put on this earth to do, suddenly work becomes as natural to us as breathing. And what a breath of fresh air that can be! I recently challenged myself to take that leap and pivot my life’s work to match up with my life’s passions, and I suggest you do the same.
Therefore, what follows are five reasons to pursue your passions in life. I understand that is not a luxury we all can experience, so I’m simply asking you to give it some thought. Then when the timing is right in your life, it’ll happen – if you keep searching for it.
Why Pursue our Passions
1. You’ll be happier overall with life.
Doing what we love organically improves our attitude about life in general. This is something most of us can understand, at least at an intrinsic level. A 2015 study by The Society of Behavioral Medicine found that engaging in activities that a person enjoys improves both health and overall happiness in life.
2. The negatives don’t seem as bad.
Here is an instance where the commonly known “straw that broke the camel’s back” phrase comes into play. When we are living stagnant and not passionate about what we are doing, it becomes quite easy for every little thing to set us off. In times like that, our cup is simply so empty that we have no water left to absorb the shock of even one more inconvenience added in. Think of our passion as the water filling that cup back up. Once that occurs, even when things go wrong (which they most certainly will, at times), we can handle it. Passion can be thought of to provide us with a protection of experiencing a strengthening of grace under those on-going pressures.
3. When passion is kept in balance, you are less likely to get burned out.
I’ll spend some extra time on this item because burnout is very common and when it’s present, it’s a very big deal. A recent Gallup poll determined that over two-thirds of full-time workers feel burned out at times. It’s very easy to get burned out about something when passion (and therefore, energy) is lacking. When a sense of duty or obligation outweighs the level of interest and sense of reward that we feel from our everyday work, that is another fast-track to burnout. This is why doing what you love can help prevent the occurrence of burnout.
The concept of following your passions can be extra challenging for people who have not discovered what their passions are in life. It’s not something that everyone is automatically born knowing, so it is instead something that we will discover at many different checkpoints throughout life.
You shouldn’t have to “find” your passion, per se, because if you take a pause and really think about it, chances are your gut feelings can give you a pretty good idea of what drives you and makes you click. If you are looking for a good read that may help you figure this out, check out Angela Duckworth’s quote “Grit”. As she says in her book, “Grit has two components: passion and perseverance.” After you understand your passion, you will have to actually go for it in order to realize your potential.
Once you jump in with full pursuit of whatever you are going after, remember that all-important word in life called “balance.” If we don’t maintain a healthy balance, it is possible to become burned out, even with our passions. Therefore, don’t let chasing it become an obsession, because we can go overboard. Get enough sleep, take breaks to enjoy other aspects of life that bring in joy, and don’t be too self-critical about the timing or extent of that success being sought out.
4. You’ll feel like you can overcome anything.
When you chase your dreams, you’re going to experience more than one brush with failure. We all do. That is one of the grand pitfalls contained within this exhilarating journey. But the great thing about this is it leaves us with an odd sense of confidence in the knowledge that what doesn’t kill us can actually make us stronger, just like the saying says.
It is when we decide to…
Accept the truth of the past
Embrace the moments of the present
Continue to try for the future
that we strangely begin to realize that perhaps we really can overcome anything life throws our way.
5. You’ll experience living out your purpose.
When we live out our purpose, it helps to give our life meaning. We feel like we are working toward something bigger, something that leaves the world better than we found it. As Mark Twain once said, “The two most important days in life are the day you [are] born and the day you discover the reason why.” We each have vastly different purposes in life, and I do believe this is most likely intentional, by some grand design. Therefore, it appears that when we are living out our unique calling in this life that we will really begin to thrive.
Discover Your Why
Writing and music have always been at the top of my list of passions, and my mom can confirm for you that this stretches back since I was a little kid. If you could do anything, what would you do? Remember that sometimes the timing isn’t right to chase that dream today, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be tomorrow. In life, we often have to go through a lot of different things so that we can learn how to grow through them. Every little thing adds up until one day, seemingly unlike any other, we’ll recognize that we are ready to really go for it. It happened to me, and I truly believe it will happen to you, just when your timing is right. In the meantime, keep working hard, don’t lose hope, and keep an eye out for your time to shine.
Questions, comments, or just need to chat? Send me a direct message via LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram.
Cheers until next time,
Crystal
