There is so much pressure culturally around finding your passion—your ONE special purpose. Ever since a young age, adults start asking what you want to be when you grow up. Once you get into school, you’re asked to move toward one major and career track. On top of that, everyone has an opinion on what your special thing should be. You internalize advice from your parents, teachers, religious system, and society as a whole. How’s a woman supposed to hear her own voice around what she feels deeply called to do with all that noise?
We’ve talked a lot about how to find your passion in the previous episodes:
- Exercises to Design Your Dream Life
- 3 Reframes to Find Your Passion This Year
- Ask These Questions to Uncover Your Passion
But if still nothing is coming up, you’re in the right place. Try these resistance blockers to get out of your head, into your heart, and clearer on what you really want.
3 Questions for Finding Your Passion
Below are three questions to help with finding your passion.
If Nothing Was Wrong, What Would You Want?
Ever since you were a child, you’ve been picking up signals as to what others deem admirable or worthy of doing. Becoming a doctor? Sounds good. Getting that accounting degree? Lots of applause from parents. But, while those things may be right for SOME people, they may not be right for YOU.
If nothing was wrong, what would you want? If you were given 10 million dollars to build your business, launch your creative project, go back to school, or pursue any other dream—and it HAD to be on something that purely brought you joy (not something that sounds good to the outside world)—what idea comes to mind first?
If There Was No Hierarchy, What Would You Want?
Similarly, it’s tempting to want to prioritize passions that get more praise from the outside world. Let’s say that you’re close a promotion at work, but what you really dream of is leaving it all behind and traveling the world. Chances are, you’re going to put more emphasis on the promotion FIRST, leaving the travel to fall down the list.
But if you received equal praise for EITHER path, which would you choose first? If one path wasn’t considered more pure or admirable than the other, which would you choose first?
I love this quote by Howard Thurman: ”Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Whatever brings your soul to life is what will give life to others. They’ll sense it in your energy, be inspired by your passion, and find themselves reaching for more in their own lives. If there is no hierarchy between your dreams—they’re all good and worthy equally—which would you start with?
Where Does Your Energy Rise and Fall?
Your head can outlogic you any day, but in the end, your body knows what’s right for you and is speaking to you all the time in subtle ways.
Where does your energy rise or fall? When you wake up on a Saturday, what do you look forward to doing first? For which activity or interest do you get a sudden boost of energy, even after a long day?
All of these can point to passions that you may have overlooked or even forgotten about. Whenever your body gets into flow—that blissful state where you become so absorbed in working on something that you lose track of time—it’s a hint as to what you were born to do. Not everyone falls into flow for the same things. Your flow states are a signal from your body, and the way you were designed, as to what you’re made for.
Next Steps to Find Your Passion
If you’re stuck on what you’re here to do, or what truly brings you to life, journal on the three questions above. Then listen for the whispers. Oftentimes, when you ponder questions like these, your heart immediately produces an answer—but it can be easy to push it down before it has a chance to be heard.
Pay attention to those instincts. If your heart has a knowing, an answer, it could be the one you’ve been looking for and just afraid to hear. For more free resources:
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Read my book: Your Bright Life: Get Clear on What You Want, Overcome Self-Doubt, and Bring Your Dreams to Life.
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