My good friend FenderGurl and I went to dinner last night. I love having dinner with her because we always talk about the most interesting things. Sure, we talk about work, kids, relationships, usual girl stuff, but we also go pretty deep sometimes. I rarely come away from a conversation with her without having some sort of new insight.
Last night we got talking about our passions. We were exploring what it is that makes us passionate about something, and the question arose “How do I know when I’ve found my true passion?”.
Over the past several years, as I’ve moved out of the corporate rat race and into my own thing, I’ve spent a lot of time exploring what it means to be passionate about something and how you really know when you’ve found it. It’s not as hard as you might think. But the signs that it’s actually your true passion might surprise you.
10 Signs That You May Have Found Your True Passion
- It brings you unbelievable amounts of joy for no apparent reason.
- It brings you unbelievable amounts of heartache for no apparent reason.
- It makes you giddy with excitement.
- It makes you sick to your stomach.
- You wake up in the morning and bound out of bed because you can’t wait to get to it.
- You absolutely dread taking the next step towards it because you are too afraid.
- You sleep like a baby knowing that you are fully living it.
- You lay wide awake all night worrying about it.
- People admire you greatly because you are so passionate.
- People criticize you often because you are so passionate.
There’s a common misconception that once you’ve found that thing you are most passionate about, that it’s all going to be sunshine and roses, that life will be perfect in every way, that your problems will just float away on a cloud. Well the thing about finding your passion is, once you’ve found it, it’s actually a lot of hard work. Why? Because your passion is that thing that gets into the core of your being. It becomes everything to you. You can’t exist without it.
Some would use the terms “obsessed” or “addicted”, when talking about passion, but I would argue that those terms imply an unhealthy relationship with something. Passion, on the other hand, is fundamentally healthy. Why? Because without your passion, your life would be less full and satisfying. With your passion, you are more whole as a person. Addictions make you weaker. Passions make you stronger.
It’s the whole downside of passion that makes it more difficult to find your passion. It’s going to make me feel sick? Lose sleep? Be criticized? Yup. Without a doubt. But that’s okay – it’s how passion works. It brings you the highest high and the lowest low, all at the same time. It makes you struggle and fight for it, and rejoice and celebrate it.
Once you find your true passion, you’ll know it. You’ll know it because you feel at once so completely ecstatic and so unbelievably afraid. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.
23 Comments
I have been going through some forks in the path with my passion. I was blessed to start living my passion 10 years ago. I learned how to ride horses. I eat, sleep and breathe them. I am also a Creative Director for an excellent web studio, and I enjoy my work, but I LOVE my passion. Your top 10 list describes my feelings to a “T”. Every single point. My passion drives me to succeed in many other areas of my life. But my passion also jolts me awake at night, when I am worried or puzzled about why my ride wasn’t perfect, or how could I improve my horse’s health? I am a mom to a 2 year old boy. Everyone thought my passion would take a back seat. BUT really…my passion makes mothering better. I am so excited that my son gets to see a mother who is so passionate about something. I am blessed to have found my passion.
Oh so very true .. thanks for putting into words what I’ve been feeling/thinking for ages now. I guess I’m on the right track. haha
Michele’s last blog post..Watch Out for the Wet Paint
Hi Suze love the post! Very inspirational.
Vince
Hong Kong Wong’s last blog post..Want to go far? Grow a black heart! (part 2)
[…] real work, people. Does it relate to passion? Of course. Does it mean sometimes it’s a means to an end? Absolutely – but that’s an […]
[…] Suze Muze has written a great post on 10 Signs That You Have Found Your True Passion […]
Brilliant.
These 10 points are spot on! I lost my marketing job in January and am still technically unemployed, but I have never been happier! Sounds strange but it really is a chance for me to see what I’m made of and I love it. I’m also listening to my gut and going for it, venturing on my own. After spending nearly half my life in corporate America, I’ve decided I never want to go back. What a fulfilling and terrifying feeling at the same time! I’m feeling a lot of the things in your post right now and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
oh my gosh, YES. Thank you for clarifying because I have been thinking lately that I wasted a lot of the past 10 years getting to where I am. and I didn’t after all! <3
@Ari I personally couldn’t live in a big city, it would be very difficult if I had to do it. I’m from a small village in Germany and am now living in the countryside close to two smallish towns in New Zealand. And I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. The big cities have never tempted me. I use them to go for some shopping from time to time, but would never want to move there.
The countryside for me is never boring, it’s too beautiful and always makes me feel creative because my whole inner being is in peace when I look outside on the lush green paddocks and see the graceful trees in the distance.
I’m starting to live my passion since escaping the small office with its artificial light at the local Council. I was like a cornerned rat inside this office, there wasn’t even a window in the room! One night I just couldn’t breathe properly anymore thinking about going back to that office and we decided this was it. Since then it’s been a long journey of learning new skills and finding my true passion, but I’m getting closer every day. And it feels exhilarating and also frightening. I jump out of bed every morning although I actually could just stay in it and being lazy and work later. But no, I WANT to get up and get to my computer and work on my new projects. There’s so much satisfaction in it.
Heike Miller’s last blog post..Don’t give up, we all depend on you!
So true. Great article. My son, Chris, and I are in the music business together. We’ve experienced both the ups and downs that you have mentioned. Could have been us writing the article. And yes, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Lovely.
Refreshed my thought processes at the end of a long week.
Many thanks.
Wendy.
Wendy’s last blog post..Spring Will Come and Bikes will need Servicing!
LOVE the article, Suze!
What struck me while I was reading was how much passion for one’s work sounds like a good human relationship. So many of the same elements must be present, so many of the same worries and joys… I suppose whenever you love anything at all these are the things you experience.
Hope you are having a wonderful day!
Christina’s last blog post..Channeling Gaga
Do you think geography plays a part in discovering one’s passion?
For instance, cities have a stereotype of noises associated therein, that one is continuously distracted and the writer must escape to a monastery to focus and craft a bestselling work. On the other hand, rural areas are monotonous at times, and one must occasionally escape to the congested city to breathe in civilization to discover inner beauty.
Other times, geographical relocation is necessary from the point of sitting by a lake, or in the woods, or on the city roofdeck gazing into infinity.
Metaphors aside, do you think geography plays a part in finding one’s passion?
Ari Herzog’s last blog post..Wirtland Establishes Itself as Internet Country
Yep. You nailed it. Ever since I started my blog, and committed to make it the best I could I live in a constant state of mixed euphoria and exhaustion with a little bit of love/hate mixed in. Keeping up with the news cycle, writing two posts a day, doing my traffic building work, exhausting and frankly some days I hate it. But the there will come the moment when I find a juicy bit of news that I haven’t seen anyone talking about in quite the way that I see it, and suddenly the article almost writes its self and I’m flying. It’s either my calling, or it’s very hard drugs and I’m all out of those. *L*
You got IT! I’ll co-sign Danny Brown – when I work several hours on one thing that pertains to my passion it gives me more joy then working at any 9-5
Nathan Driver’s last blog post..Week In Review: Tech to Marketing
I found myself nodding to each point and this helped reinforce how much I welcome that awful/wonderful feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I’m neck deep in the thing I’m most passionate about.
Overall, I just wanted to say thanks. Reading this couldn’t have come at a better time for me.
Great blog, and so true!
Melia’s last blog post..April is Autism Awareness Month!
I love the point you make about passion being hard work as opposed to the opposite.
It’s exactly what makes people passionate – the work and commitment needed to see a passion through. If you don’t have that, you just accept the status quo when things get tough – where’s the fun in that? 🙂
Danny Brown’s last blog post..When Was The Last Time…
What a fantastic article- and sooo true! Thank you 🙂
Loved the post. For me, number six rings so true. People really do think life is much easier after you’ve found your passion, but it really isn’t. It just brings a whole new set of worries to a person.
But
You have hit the nail right on the head. Thanks for showing me that I really have found “it”. Sometimes it is right in front of you, and you can’t see, or you are too afraid.
Thanks,
Sharon
Sharon’s last blog post..Who we are
I think you can boil all of that down to this : You can’t imagine yourself doing anything else at all.
WTL’s last blog post..The 25 pound (11.33 kg) Challenge
I think that’s a really great point, Ari. Perhaps it’s not so much where you are physically, but mentally that helps in this. I know some people who can find clarity and focus in the midst of the most chaotic situations, and others who need to “get away” to really get themselves into that place. I think it’s probably a really individual choice, but I do agree that where you are plays a role.