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Resolutions: Getting Back Your Groove Thing
How Finding Your Passion Can Keep You Sane
By Hana Haatainen Caye
Ever wake up in the morning and just want to stay in bed? You can’t put your finger on it–things aren’t all that bad–yet still, you just can’t get excited about facing another day in the craziness known as your life. Kids, the economy, laundry, rising grocery prices, work…all the things that must be dealt with. All the things that hijack your energy and keep you from being the vivacious person you used to be. There is no crystal ball, and you have very little control over the world around you, but you can do something for yourself. Something that will help you get your groove thing back while staving off depression, bitterness and unhappiness. It’s finding your passion. And whether you have time to indulge a little or imbibe a lot, plan on doing it for fun or choose to make your newfound activity a career, finding your passion can make a difference in how you look at life…and yourself.
A Recipe for Happiness
The hit movie Julie and Julia, a story that parallels the lives of famed chef and TV personality Julia Child and Julie Powell, a then obscure and slightly depressed blogger, illustrates just what can happen when you find a passion that’s life-changing and contagious. One that the movie’s producer Lawrence Mark proclaimed was “a passion for food that got them through tough or uncertain times.” They might not have known it when they started, but their exuberance for food turned into an exuberance for life; an avenue for finding out who they truly were, and a way to accept themselves in spite of their faults and failures. It gave them purpose.
You may not become famous like these two women, but finding your passion does have benefits that include:
• Reduced Stress – Becoming passionately engrossed in an activity takes your mind off stressful events, thereby reducing high blood pressure, fatigue and other stress related illnesses.
• Living in the Moment – When you engage in a passionate activity, the mind becomes so occupied that the past and future become non-existent. You are simply in the now, much like practicing meditation or mindfulness, but with a tangible outcome.
• Increased Self Esteem – You’ll find an amazing reserve of strength just behind that wall of fear you’re knocking down, as well as a renewed sense of accomplishment that helps to build confidence in all aspects of your life.
• Renewed Optimism – Because you enjoy what you’re doing and see positive outcomes, you believe you can succeed. You are in control and making things happen. This optimism translates to other areas of your life, helping you to cope when things are beyond your control.
Who Cares What Others Think
If finding a passion is so beneficial, then what keeps us from going for it? Aside from perceived time and economic constraints or just plain apathy, there are a number of roadblocks you must overcome to truly find your passion.
Fear
Going out on a limb is easier for some than others, but allowing fear to keep you from purposing your passion is, quite simply, giving fear entirely too much power. Try taking baby steps towards your goal. As you conquer small advances, take on greater ones, all the while justifying the risk with the reward. Ask only that you do your best and be happy that you tried. With each small triumph, you’ll empower your resolve, and fear will eventually diminish or be done away with all together.
Resentment
What good does holding onto the past do? So what if you’ve been wronged, suffered setbacks or aren’t in the best physical shape of your life. Letting go of “what ifs” and “if onlys” will serve to free up your energy to move on to positive, can-do scenarios. Moving forward in a passionate activity has a domino effect; one that focuses on where you’re going, not where you have been.
Conformity and Rationale
Our parents meant well, but times have changed. People don’t work the same job for a lifetime, retiring with a bank account full of money saved, a tidy pension and the free time to drink lemonade on the porch. Being laid off is a coin toss in our society, so finding something you love and making money at it may not be far fetched. Explore your options and move accordingly. You might not start out looking for a passion that produces a paycheck, but don’t discount it because it’s not the norm. Compliance doesn’t necessarily lead to happiness, especially when it means depriving yourself of what you were born to do.
Making it Happen
As Alan Alda stated, “You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.” In order to discover your passion, you have to be ready to leave your “city of comfort.”
Brainstorming
Get started by getting to know what it is you really like to do. Find a spot where you will be undisturbed for about fifteen minutes and, without thinking, write about what excites you and makes you happy. Ask yourself, what job would I love to have or what did I love doing as a child? Focus on what makes you feel alive and stress free.
Continue the exercise by listing five to ten things you would love to do, then number them according to how much you would like to be doing them right now. The items that rise to the top of the list create a good springboard from which to execute a passionate dive.
Reel in Your Prospects
Look beyond your inner and outer obstacles and be suspicious of any limitations you set upon yourself, but be realistic! Blind people cannot be airplane pilots and senior citizens cannot run for Miss America or become major league baseball pitchers! Determine what it is you love to do, evaluate each activity from a pragmatic standpoint and act accordingly with the knowledge that this is a viable activity worth spending time on.
Take a Trial Run
You’ll never know if you’re truly passionate about something until you try it. Find ways to practice by volunteering for an organization centered on your quest, taking classes on the subject, or joining clubs or leagues associated with your chosen activity. These are excellent ways to give your future aspirations a trial run. As you dig in deeper, be honest with yourself. Is your passion becoming a burden, or do you look forward to it more than the day you started. The answer will determine if it’s right for you.
Is a life of passion really within reach? Absolutely! Keep at it. Embrace the challenge. It may just be the very thing you need to jump start your life, get back in the groove and find what was lost but never really gone….and that’s you.
Jump start your journey with a little help from those in the know.
• Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose, by Matthew Kelly
A key to finding lasting happiness in a changing world.
• The Passionate Life A Common Man’s Guide to Getting Everything You Want Out of Anything You Do, by Mitche Graf
Filled with practical tips on how to live a life of purpose and meaning.
• The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Destiny, by Janet Attwood and Chris Attwood
Interviews with people who are successfully living a life of passion.
• Living Big: Embrace Your Passion and Leap into an Extraordinary Life, by Pam Grout
Focused on breaking long-held, self-defeating patterns and living big.
