“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”
~ Oprah Winfrey
You are always being asked about your passion. Whether you are at a dinner at your uncle’s house or at a job interview. It is important to know what you are passionate about so that you are not wasting your life away at a 9 to 5 job. Your passion is what makes you feel like your job is not really your job, but something you enjoy doing.
What is your passion?
Everyone looks for happiness, but happiness is usually connected to our passion and ‘doing what we are made to do’. Your passion is something that you naturally want to do instead of something that looks or sounds good. It is something that you will have no laziness to do. The way my father describes passion to me is something that I would not hesitate to do even if I was woken up in the middle of the night.
Why is finding your passion important?
The basic reason why it is important to find your passion is because it feels amazing. Don’t you want to wake up in the morning looking forward to something you love to do? Isn’t that, like, the best feeling ever? No facing the dreaded Monday blues. The work you do will not feel forced upon you and you will be more inclined overcoming obstacles. You will be more prone to success if you consider your job as your passion. Following your passion will always present you the opportunity to help others too. When you relate more to the work that you put out, you in turn come up with better ideas to make progress, leading to success.
So, how to find it?
The role of Dopamine:
A lot of people think that there is only one thing out there that we can classify as our passion. People usually assume that passion is predetermined by birth. But, these assumptions aren’t true. It is entirely possible to have more than one passion, which most people do.
One basic thing that we need to understand is the role of Dopamine. Dopamine (associated with happiness) is a chemical messenger in your nervous system. When we take part in something pleasurable to something that gives us a sense of achievement, our brain releases dopamine.
Methods of releasing Dopamine:
Nowadays, it is very easy for your brain to release dopamine. We feel proud of ourselves when we binge-watch and entire season on Netflix. We surf the web and eat unhealthy food, and this becomes our main source of dopamine because it pleasures us. However, this is the one thing that will forever prevent you from finding your passion. These are the “Consumption” methods of releasing dopamine.
Now let’s talk about “Creative” methods of releasing dopamine. These are the methods which will require a little more effort. These include making, building, thinking, drawing, writing, playing and many more.
When “Consumption” methods are your main source of dopamine, we stop calling it consumption and start calling it an addiction. Yes. It is an ADDICTION to binge-watching Netflix shows when you can easily be doing something much more productive. It is an ADDICTION to continuously surf the net. It is an ADDICTION to eat unhealthy. Change your “consumptions” to “creatives”.
Transitioning from Consumption to Creative:
Be more proactive, and expose your mind to different forms of creation. Try out different things to see if you can potentially feel passionate about it.
This is usually where people stop, because they don’t know what they can do. But, the most effective yet old fashioned way of doing this is literally by going down a list of hobbies, picking ones that sound interesting to you and ones you have resources available for, and going for it! To make it a little easier for you, here is a link to a list of hobbies for you: https://www.mantelligence.com/list-of-hobbies/. This website also allows you to filter out the list to suit you best. Do only one thing at a time, and do it for at least a week.
Make sure your dopamine is coming from creativity, not consumption. By doing this, you will eventually find pleasure in other things. They will become things you are passionate about. Change your source of dopamine to find your passion.
Such great advice!