Human mind is a beautiful place. Complex, busy, influenced by the environment and experiences.
We constantly evolve, ever since the moment we’re born. With every new sound, color, word, picture in our mind, something changes inside us. We begin learning to like and dislike things around us, at a very young age. The more exposure, the more we alter our path in life, our likes and dislikes, and dreams and aspirations. Most of the time, we don’t know what we want, but our experiences taught us what we don’t want.
As children, ever since we can remember, we’re asked by many people the same question: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?‘. That question sets our minds free. The answer has no limitations, the only limitation is human mind. So we think about it, and we come up with ambitious dreams. We want to be astronauts, firefighters, superheros, princesses, scientists, doctors, police officers, and many others. Our innocent souls, dictate our path in life, and ration doesn’t have much to say in it. Influenced by animations, love, and goodwill, we seek to be happy, regardless of the form it takes.
“Passion is the difference between having a job or having a career.”
With age, we’re slowly guided towards the slot in society we should occupy. Exposure makes us forget or ignore what our previous goal was: to be happy. Once school becomes a major part of our lives, things complicate, we become more job focused, getting lost in the illusion that what builds a career aren’t actually dreams and passion, but solid knowledge.
The more people we meet, the meanness of the persons around us, the cruel society, the situations we’re confronted with, alter the way we see the world around us, our dreams and desires. And our worldview changes. Our ambitious dreams are replaced by heavy thinking and struggling to occupy that position dictated by society. We go back and forward between choosing the right career path. And most of us find it. Influenced by the school subjects, material gain, people around us, we feel like we finally fit in that slot, and we work towards making our dream come true.
Hard work pays off and we become good at something. Our entire lives are shaped around us becoming something when we grow up. And for most of us, it works.
It’s really easy to choose to ‘become something’, if you know you’re good at one thing, and you feel like you can only do that, at a level which makes you happy and turns you into a skilled professional. It’s easy when you know you will get a job.
But what if you still don’t know the answer to ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?‘. What if you are passionate by many things? What if you just can’t choose? What if you’re that ‘annoying’ type of person which can do pretty much anything the mind is set to do, and can’t settle for a job? What if you change your mind every few months, and your heart defines ‘career’ in a totally different way? What if you just have no plan to ‘become something’ once you’re done with your education, in comparison with all your other colleagues?
Being multi-talented, training your mind easily to switch from one field to the other, might seem like a blessing. However, you realize soon enough that you are not like others around you, you don’t know how to do just one thing, but you can be anything you set your mind to. Even if we are trained to believe we need to find that ‘job’, and fill in that empty slot in society, for a person like you, it’s almost impossible.
Doing almost anything, can become a curse. It’s never easy to mix different skills from art, writing, technology, love for animals and environment, people, to a personal life, into ONE career path. You can’t be everything but you can’t be without everything. And then you face the curse of everything, with makes it almost impossible to choose.
So, what do you do? How do you find out the right path for you? Is there such a thing? Can you focus on one thing only? Can we be happy with being less than we want to be?
In the crazy race for a career, money and a future, we must not leave our heart behind. Once we try to remove a part of us, from our future, we soon realize we lose our happiness. For people with so many passions and interests, the only way to live a happy life is to not leave any passion un-nurtured. Our artistic side is always waiting to come to surface, our compassionate side is present in all our actions, and all our skills combine and become a lifestyle. We can’t just NOT do what makes us happy, unless we amputate a part of our soul.
“Doing what you like is freedom.
Liking what you do is happiness.”
When it comes to a career path, we tend to choose from our passions and skills, the ones which have the potential to bring the most income. However, long term, income is not enough. Think about removing all monetary benefits, setting all career options right in front of you, and picture what would you do, if you could choose from anything, and all would pay the same. Would it still be the career you had in mind before? Making a career from your passion, feels like you never go to work, not even for one day. Wouldn’t that be beautiful, to be so free? That’s true happiness!
When life gets busy and complicated, we immediately remove the time allocated for what really feeds our soul. However, the crazier life becomes and the less time we have, the more time we should invest in our true passions. We should never forget that nurturing our heart is as important as feeding our body. Losing ourselves in the process of building a future, takes us to an empty space, where sunshine can’t reach. Can fortunes feed an empty soul?
“In Order to Succeed, Your Desire for Success Should Be Greater than Your Fear of Failure.”
– Bill Cosby
Passions … there is no right and wrong. The right choice is the one which makes us happy, and we shouldn’t settle for anything less. Our hearts and minds need peace, and once we take the time to listen, we’ll choose our true path in life. We’ll just know it, as we’ll give 110% in anything we do, and it won’t ever feel like a job, but it will feel like freedom. It will feel like happiness.
Remember we’re not meant to fit in that slot society created for us. Taking the time to find out what really makes us happy, nurturing our passions even in the busiest times, our desire to succeed, and a positive attitude, will put us on the right track to a career and fulfillment, and keep us away from getting stuck with an unsatisfying and time consuming job.
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All Right Choices 
So true. I don’t know that my job is my “dream” but it’s intellectually stimulating, I like my coworkers and at the end of the day, I feel like I’ve accomplished something (well most days anyway). So that’s a start right?
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We’re all there, if not all the time, at least sometimes. It’s hard to always have a career, not a job. What’s most important than anything, is to not let it kill your passions and interests. Those are what keeps us alive and going. I did this once, and the results weren’t very good. I hope you’ll make all your dreams come true! Keeping my fingers crossed for you. Hugs
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It requires a lot of conviction not to fit in but to follow your heart, Our job gives us financial stability, recognition but our passion ad interests give us something to look forward to. So it is important that we keep alive our passion in order to stay alive.
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Very beautifully said! Thank you so much for your lovely comment! Indeed, we die inside when we quit doing the things we love. I let it go for a few years, and I had no idea what was missing in my life. It’s great to be back on the right track. I felt inspired today to share a few thoughts on this, as my passions made me very happy lately. Have a great day!
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True it feels great to be back on the right track. Thank you Lucy. You too have a wonderful day. 🙂
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I’m at that crossroads right now. After 26 years in my industry, I’ve been let go. Looking at re-entry into the same field makes me sick to my stomach. My big question is which way? It’s taking quite a bit of soul searching. I’m going to take time to go back to school, until I have a direction.
Great post. It puts a lot into perspective.
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Thank you for your wonderful words, Wendy! It’s never easy to switch fields. I also did this last year, and starts are very though. I currently study on a daily basis, and also work on my creative skills, hoping to get more going. Even so, I had to write this post when I realized that from all the things I did and I want to do, what really makes me feel wonderful, are the fields for which I have a passion. I hope you manage to follow a career path which will make you happy, and not drain your happiness and energy. Take as much time as needed, and make the right choice. Going back to school is a great start. Good luck and let me know how it goes! x
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A thought provoking post Lucy. Now at the end of my career, I would say that one has to be open to the possibilities, to listen to one’s gut, to be flexible to see new beginnings even when they are scary.
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Thank you for taking the time to read and leave a comment, Sue! I don’t think we have a choice, except to be flexible. However, investing time into what we really makes us feel good, is so much worth it. Wasting time on a job we don’t like, when our skills can take is places, is just not a good way to go about things. I’m also working on making some dreams come true, and I was inspired by my passions, to write this. Now when I took a chance at doing what I really enjoy, it all makes sense. Have a lovely day!
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Passion keeps us alive. And the desire to follow that passion keeps us going. Of course, we need a job to be financially secure, but the flame of passion should always be there….there lies the secret to happiness… 🙂
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Very nicely said! The secret is to never give up our passions, not even when we’re busy with a job. Or even better, make a career out of our passions. Nothing better than going to work with pleasure and excitement 🙂
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Very true…. when passion becomes our profession…. nothing better than that…
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I agree, there is no option right or a wrong one, we have to do what that force inside says us to do ad try to avoid the question “What if I had do that what I wanted to do?” 🙂
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I can’t agree more, Francis! That question can become real torture 🙂
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Lucy, it’s a wonderful post!!!
Indeed human mind is a beautiful place, it is an irony that we don’t know how explore and expand its usage.
This has been an eternal challenge we all have been facing where to draw the line, the passion or the compulsion of life. It is never easy to pursue our passion without having the safeguard of life in place. Time is important aspect of life when to decide what to do or plunge into the battlefield and face the challenge as it comes and follow what the heart says, just ignoring the logic of mind driving our future. We keep confronting so many people and visiting so many places, our own perspective changes every-time we hear new things and see new things in life. But at the same time key aspect for being success lies in doggedly pursuing once we decide on something and not getting distracted with new things.
Never been easy to balance between the profession and the passion, either we are internally driven or an external event drives to converge our passion with profession.Indeed doing what we like is freedom and liking what we do is happiness, lovely quote to keep is close to our heart and follow it religiously for us to enjoy freedom or to be in the state of happiness.
Cheers!!!
😀
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Nihar, thank you so much for your beautiful words. I couldn’t wait to read your opinion on this matter, as I know you’re also always busy, in many fields, and you always aim to find a balance in day to day life.
As you also said, it’s hard to draw that line, especially when you go back and forward between what you love, and finances. The more exposure we have, the more we change the way we see things. I also face the challenge of not knowing what exactly to choose, because I love to do so many. Sometimes I get way to busy because of all my passions, but what always made me happy is to keep them close to my heart. Is really hard to live a life which doesn’t seem to match the path your heart desires.
I’m happy you enjoyed the quotes. It’s always good to keep them in mind, and never forget to follow our hearts. Have a lovely day and cheers to our lovely chat!
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Lucy, one thing I have learnt going through this dilemma and seeing many people going through this phase, is that we all have one life and we don’t have second life to keep trying to do something which we couldn’t do in our first life.
Also, the biggest risk in life is not taking any risk…playing safe in life is not a good idea, and at the same time going all out and being crazy may not also be a good thought. But the biggest breakthroughs and greatest achievement happens only when we go crazy and do what others find it difficult or hate to do it, there is this big success hidden in the madness of our passion. Many times we loose time before we discover what is our passion and with age and loss of time we hesitate to take a call, and call which change our life forever.
Life is indeed beautiful when we have fully fallen in love with our passion, passion acts a magical power in our life and we can do wonders when we nurture passion to its creative end not just the logical end.
cheers to the deep passion in our wonderful discussion.
take care!!!
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So very true! You wrote it perfectly. We have just one life, and if we want to make a change, we should just do it. Risking is hard, but worse is not doing anything about it. If we succeed and that makes us happy, it’s all that matters. As you said, we already lose enough time with figuring out what we like, we just shouldn’t add more lost time to that.
Passion for something, and dedication makes life so much more beautiful. Nurturing our true self is what keep us on the right track.
Take care and thanks for the beautiful words!
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Passion and risk goes hand in hand and those with deep passion takes deeper risk and the rewards always commensurate with the risk we take. Fear is always deterrent in taking the passion forward, we get into our comfort zone not risk our life and make living more secure but there is nothing in this life secure and perennial safe it is being in the safe zone is what the biggest risk is which drags us from exploring the uncharted territories and expanding beyond our horizon of normal thinking.
Let’s make our passion our mission.
cheers!!!
take care Lucy.
😀
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Life begins at the end of our comfort zone, so taking the risk is usually rewarding. Passion and following our hearts usually takes us to all the right places 🙂 Cheers to an amazing mission! Take care!
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It can be difficult to find a career path where you can feel accomplished. At least for me. I’m still thinking and looking for it. I hope it’s not too late :p
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I’m sure it’s not too late 🙂 I’m just like you. I’m also in process of changing my career path. At least I know what I don’t want. Good luck with yours! I’m sure you’ll find something amazing. x
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Difficult to find one thing to stick to? Let’s find a job that lets us do everything! Hmmm…. What about an inventor? Or an author? These jobs seem to take footing in everything in life, and let you direct them all into the end products, be that an invention or an article. Perhaps you are doing it already, programming and blogging? Inventing and writing at the same time?
P.S. terrible time to quote Cosby 😛 😛
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Thank you for reading and for taking the time to share your thoughts. I believe life is too short to not make the choice which makes us happy. If we have various skills, we should definitely try to turn them into our career. Being stuck with a not very rewarding job is terribly hard for a person with so many interests. I’m doing my best to stay on the right path, and inspire people on the way 🙂 And about the quote…is a good quote regardless 😀
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Hmm, like I said on another post… related.. after all 🙂
Where were you all my life? Hahaha. (Don’t let me wife catch me saying such things online…)
Nice blog.. and nice you 🙂
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🙂 Thanks for reading. Glad you enjoyed my posts. Have a nice evening!
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You too 🙂
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