Life is for living. For loving and enjoying and celebrating and making the most of. And finding your passion is a crucial part of that. When you’re lost or stuck or feeling unfulfilled, it can seem soul-destroying. But it could very well be the best thing that ever happens to you, because it’ll force you to find your passion.
It’s okay to feel frustrated or deflated with life – but it’s never okay to stay there. When you’re bored or at rock bottom, you need to find your fire again. And here’s how to do it.
Sometimes, we get comfortable. There’s safety in familiarity. And it’s scary to make changes or step out and away from everything you already know. But when you start to get uncomfortable, that’s when the magic happens. And suddenly, you’re more excited than ever to find your passion and start building a beautiful life.
Why You Need To Find Your Passion
It’s easy to think that you’re fine as you are. You might not be suffering or depressed, so it’s okay to feel a little unhappy or unsettled. But it’s not. That feeling will never go away on its own. And you deserve to be happy. You deserve to create a life that you love.
Maybe you don’t want to think too much about it, because it scares you? Maybe you have no idea how you ended up feeling this away, or you don’t want to address the route of the cause? And that’s okay. Finding your passion doesn’t have to be a big deal. It doesn’t have to delve into the past or drag your emotions through the dirt.
Finding your passion is something you decide to do for you. To find your fire. To find the one thing (or many) that lights you up and gives your life purpose.
These eight steps are real, practical, and simple – but they will produce results. Here’s how to find your passion and start to build a beautiful life.
1. Understand Your Unhappiness
Maybe unhappiness is the wrong word. But to start things off, you need to understand why you feel the way you do today. Why you’re bored or stuck or lost or feeling a little blue. Because it can be hard to work out what you’re passionate about or what you want to do with your life without really knowing what you don’t want.
Set some time aside and really think openly and honestly about your life and dreams and goals. Thirty minutes or so will do. Just make sure you won’t get distracted, because you need to really process your thoughts, and feelings, and emotions.
Pick up your pen and notebook, or do it digitally, and ask yourself questions like
- Why are you so unhappy or stuck or lost right now?
- What’s causing it?
- When did it start?
- If it comes and goes, what triggers it?
This sounds a little deep, but it doesn’t have to be. The idea here is to work out what parts of your life right now aren’t right. What’s not serving you or what doesn’t suit you. Or, what’s not really aligned with the life you think you want.
Consider all kinds of areas here. Your career, family, friendships, relationships, social life, home life, mindset, health, and even the kinds of choices you tend to make. Before long, you should have a sort of, what I don’t want out of life list. And then, you can do something with it.
2. Look To Your Interests
There’s definitely something about pinpointing a problem that quickly shows you a solution. After you’ve compiled your what I don’t want out of life list, you’re now in the perfect position to find your passion and fall in love with life again.
And to do that, you need to look to your loves.
If you’re on a roll and want to continue on with this exercise, start a new page. Or set some more time later or tomorrow. It won’t take long. Because you simply need to think about all of the things you love in life. The things that make you happy. That you enjoy doing. Your interests.
Perhaps it’s a pastime or hobby or leisure activity? Maybe it’s a cause or a movement or an organisation? Or is it an industry or activity or an idea? It doesn’t matter specifically what it is, just as long as you can identify one thing, or a handful of things, that you love to do.
Whether you pick books or tennis or interiors or supporting opportunities for young women, create an idea of what you’re passionate about, and write it all down.
3. Visualise The Ideal Day
You know what you love, you know what you don’t – but now you need to pull it all together.
Of all the eight steps, step three is perhaps the most powerful of all. If you’ve yet to experience visualisation, this will blow your mind. Who knew imagining something could really spark excitement and uncover your life’s purpose?
For this exercise, spend some time visualising and contemplating what the ideal day looks like. And not a trip to Paris followed by a shoe-shopping spree! But what the average day should look like to you. How you would love to spend your time each day. Here, you’ll find that the activities you do should suit your personality, interests, and loves.
Are you sat in an office or working from home? Outside or working with animals? Are you travelling? Or speaking or teaching or working with others? Maybe you're using your mind, your hands, your creativity, or all three?
As you visualise this perfect day, from the moment you wake up and what you wear to work, to how you spend your day and what you do in the evenings, make notes. Write it all down. You’ll find the most significant clues for how you’re going to find your passion this way.
4. Focus On The Future
And now, you need to look ahead. See this exercise as an exaggerated version of step three. But instead of visualising your ideal day, you’re going to think about to what your dream future looks like. Again, try not to be too materialistic or unrealistic here. If you’re ambitious, go ahead and reach for the stars, but if you know you want a humble life, keep your visions much more grounded.
So, once again, go back to that visualisation process. Start to think about the future you. The you in five or ten years time. Where is she? What is she doing? What is her life like? What kind of lifestyle does she have? How does she spend her time? What is she passionate about?
Sometimes, to find your passion, you have to think ahead to see what the ultimate version of yourself really looks like. Because when you can picture her, and you feel butterflies in your tummy, you’re getting closer to figuring it all out.
5. Think Back To Childhood
The next task turns back time – but in the most endearing of ways. So let’s think back to your childhood for a moment. See your six or ten or sixteen-year-old self. Really remember what it was like – what you liked, and be specific.
What did your six-year-old self love to do? How did she spend her time? What made her smile or excited or happy? Think of ten-year-old you – what did her days consist of? What subjects did she enjoy most at school? What hobbies or activities or groups was she interested in?
And then, when you get to your sixteen-year-old self, we’re going to get more specific still.
- What were her dreams? Her hopes?
- What did she most love to do?
- What did she want out of life?
- Where did she want life to take her?
- Did she love to read or write? Draw or play sports? Sing or explore or create?
Oftentimes, when you strip everything back and consider a younger you, you’ll find your passion. Your truest, un-influenced, most authentic passions in life.
6. Know Yourself Better
It’s fun to take a trip down memory lane, isn’t it? But you also need to reflect on you today in order to paint an accurate picture. Because we grow and change and to find your passion, you have to join the dots a little closer to home.
Sometimes, your childhood likes are a tad unrealistic – or just a phase. And sometimes, they’re influenced by your parents or friends or teachers. So for step six, it’s important to identify what makes you, you. This is where you’ll look at what most comes naturally to you.
We all have natural talents and preferences and interests. By being real with yourself and knowing where your strengths lie, it can help you to work out what you want to do with your life.
Write down everything that you like. What you’re good at. What comes naturally to you.
Maybe you’re a natural empath and care for others? Maybe you have incredible communication skills and you understand people exceptionally well? Maybe you’re a deep thinker, innovative, and analytical? Maybe you’re a whizz with numbers, or words, or you’re scientific?
It’s okay to praise yourself here, in fact, it’s encouraged. As you start to highlight your strengths, you’ll begin to see patterns emerging. And yes, you may find your passion as early as now!
7. Ask Others For Insight
But, if there isn’t a clear pattern just yet, don’t panic. Maybe you can’t quite see it right now or you’ve got some conflicting answers? Sometimes getting an objective opinion can work wonders.
This step involves you asking those closest to you, those that know you well, to give their input. Sometimes, your parents, closest friends, or your significant other can see you clearer than you can see yourself. Especially if you’re not all that confident.
So ask! Ask for their opinions or ideas on what you might be most passionate about in life. While you may assume that you should be the one to find your passion, it can often be easily pointed out to you by someone you love.
8. Make A Difference
By this point, you may feel like you’ve found it, but this final step could be a game-changer for you.
It’s easy to believe that your most self-serving dreams are your passions. But they aren’t always fulfilling. You could go on to experience that same lost, stuck, and off-track feeling again and again. Instead, you may find that serving others is much more rewarding.
So, spend a little time thinking about how you can help others in life. What can you do to make the world a better place? Or make a difference to somebody else’s life? More often than not, there will be a connection between the things you’re most passionate about and how you can serve others.
Can you teach or share your knowledge? Do you have a skill that adds value to the lives of others? It could be that you want to look at nursing or veterinarian jobs to make a difference and fuel your passions. Might you be able to care for others, or create something special, or influence others in a positive way?
Think about how your talents and life experiences and current situation can benefit other people. Bring each and every one of the previous exercises together – pinpoint those passions, and then fuse them with step eight, and that’s how you find your passion.
BONUS POINT: Bring It All To Life
When you’re lost, it seems impossible to find your passion. Maybe you’ve even thought you’re just not passionate about anything at all. But that’s not true. Because now that you’ve completed each step, you’ve done it – haven’t you?
Piecing together each part of the puzzle, from the reasons you’re unhappy now and identifying what makes you happy, to what your ideal day and future looks like, and what younger-you loved to do and understanding your most authentic self to accepting input from others and looking to serve them too – the entire process starts to create a very clear picture. A picture that you now need to own, and get excited about, and bring to life.
And that’s exactly what you get to do next. To write that book, take a class, travel the world, start that business, join that group, or make the change. And just like that, you’ve not only found your passion, but you’re on your way to living it.
Which step do you find most useful? Do you have any additional ideas for finding your passion? Share your tips with the SOCIÉTÉ community in the comments below.
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