Many people say they don’t know what they want from life.
Maybe you’re one of them, and you keep wondering how to find your passion.
You say you have no idea what you want to do.
I’m afraid I have to disagree. You already know what you want.
Maybe you don’t know the name of the job you want, but I’m sure you know at least something about in which direction to go.
It’s fine to not be completely clear about this. It’s okay to not have it all figured out.
Don’t be fooled; nobody sees the future crystal clear. Nobody has it all figured out.
We all have a spark inside of us, and if it sounds cheesy to you, don’t mind the cheesiness. Just listen.
You’re just too embarrassed to admit you want what you want.
You’re afraid to say it out loud even to yourself because you think you don’t deserve it or it’s dumb.
You think it’s just a wild dream of yours that’s not worth pursuing.
And that’s why I prefer to say “uncover” rather than “discover” your purpose, dreams, goals.
Your purpose and the life you desire might be covered by embarrassment, uncertainty, anxiety, and fear.
So, yes, I believe you DO know what you want.
You’ve probably found yourself daydreaming thinking about someone else’s cool life. Take that as a sign. You probably want to be like them or have the life they have.
I’m certain there’s someone you look up to. Or that there’s something that powerfully gets your attention every time, but you’re sure it’s just a hobby or something you’ll “try one day” and then you never do.
What’s that thing you do that makes you lose track of time?
What would you do if you had millions and millions of dollars?
Do you prefer to be your own boss or to work as part of a team?
What makes you angry about the world? What would you like to change? Would you like to be part of that change?
If you still have a hard time uncovering what you really want, your life purpose, or what’s best for you right now, I highly recommend you try journaling for 7-10 days straight.
I’ve made a list of journaling prompts for self-discovery for you to try if you’re unsure about what you want to do.
After journaling with those prompts for a week or two, I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to recognize patterns that’ll guide you on your self-discovery journey.
Think about the last time you did something that made you really excited. It may be aligned with your passions.
Beware of thoughts that trick you into believing other people are superior beings capable of achieving much more than you can.
Thoughts like:
- I admire XXXX so much, but I could never do that. I’m not XXXX enough.
And yes, “passion” isn’t everything when it comes to setting important, long-term goals.
I’d say it’s not even relevant because passion is a feeling and no feeling is permanent. Feelings always change. So I’d say “purpose” beats “passion” on that one.
Nevertheless, your gut feeling may tell you something important about what you really want.
Feeling passionate about something can be a powerful indicator of the path you want to follow.
I strongly believe no one can get really far in life without enjoying what they do. You can finish Law School to please your parents, but I doubt you’ll find fulfillment in being a lawyer if you don’t believe in what you do and don’t enjoy doing it.
I don’t believe happiness is the main goal in life. I’d say inner peace and feeling useful is; feeling you have an impact of some sort.
When you devote your life to things you find futile, and you feel completely useless, you can end up being not just deeply unhappy but also very anxious, aggressive, and full of pain.
Many people believe the ultimate goal is to do something they “love” ALL THE TIME.
But you know what? Every job, every work, comes with its “sh*t sandwich,” as Elizabeth Gilbert calls it.
Pursuing “endless happiness” could actually be stopping you from getting the things you want AND from admitting what you want.
If you deeply believe you need to be happy all the time, then you won’t ever do things that make you proud because most of the time, if not all the time, serving your life purpose entails doing things you don’t enjoy that much or even things you despise.
Maybe you want to start a YouTube channel, but you hate being in front of cameras. You think it’s awkward, which makes you believe you don’t really want a YouTube channel.
If you really wanted one, you’d be willing to happily complete every single task related to it, right?
Well, that’s not how it works.
If you really want to start that YouTube channel and are afraid of cameras, take your time to practice and see if you get used to it.
If you don’t, then because cameras are at the core of the job, you’ll realize you’re not as crazy about YouTube as you thought. And you’ll let it go.
But at least try.
To illustrate this, I’m going to use a real example of my life.
I love writing, and I love storytelling, but I don’t really like designing things. It makes me anxious because I enjoy beautiful design, and I admire people who design beautiful things, but it’s hard for me to get it right sometimes.
However, I started a blog to write, but I was sure that, to do that, I’d also need to do things that stress me out, like picking a layout, designing pins for Pinterest, and so on.
And that’s fine.
I know someday I’ll be able to afford an amazing designer capable of capturing my personality in aimlief’s design, but for now, it’s all DIY for me.
So no, you don’t have to feel happy all the time.
Remember this. Go after things that catch your attention, no matter how hard it is to get better at them. Start and try.
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