Category: Goals

Is Passion Overrated? 

  • You have to find Your Passion.
  • You must find The Thing only you have to offer the world before you can have fulfillment and joy.
  • If you don’t find your PASSION, you’re doomed to failure.

Blah blah blah.

We’ve all seen the blog posts, headlines,and books. To be honest, they make me feel like I’m in high school again. I remember listening to the guidance counselor talk about the importance of picking a college major. I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. I just remember the pressure I felt to get it right, to be a success at something.

I know now that when I was in high school, I could never have predicted the career I’ve ended up with. Why? Because I’d never heard of it before. I stumbled into my job sideways while looking in another direction.  

In my opinion, the recent hype about finding your One True Passion is just that: hype. I personally think it’s more important that we “Have Passion” than that we have “A Passion.” 

We should throw ourselves into whatever we do and do it with gusto. Forget the pressure of finding your one true purpose and give something new a try every now and then. 

Who knows, maybe you’ve never even heard of Your One Thing yet.

My Season of Partial Discontent

winter

 

I have to admit up front: I owe somebody some credit. I just don’t remember who it is. I read an article or blog post recently that really spoke to me and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. The article gave a list of possible reasons for being sad, unhappy, or dissatisfied with your job.

The idea that pierced my heart: my personal goals and my professional goals are not in alignment.

Zing! Whap! Pow!

I’ve been struggling emotionally for a while now. After some serious soul searching, I know that article hit a nerve for a reason. I have an excellent career, one that I have always enjoyed. I still enjoy it, although admittedly much less frequently than I did.

I wish I had more time to pursue other interests, dreams, and hopes. In fact, this blog is an offshoot of my internal strife. I don’t have time to be a writer, but I want to be a writer. I will be a writer. I am a writer.

So, now I know what the root of my problem is: I have a complete personal/professional disconnect. I have been diligently writing down my lists of things I need to do, projects I want to finish, goals and dreams I hope to accomplish. My lists include everything in my life, as if it were all a harmonious and complete package.

But then, oh the agony.

I end up I sitting at my office in a brain fog, lamenting all the personal projects I can’t do. When I’m at home, I endlessly regret how many professional goals I haven’t accomplished at work because I’m so stuck.

My life has become an endless cycle of dissatisfaction, gloominess, and frustration.

This has to stop. And now!

The way I see it, I have a couple of choices:

Choice 1) I can give up on a rewarding career, quit my job, and start over. Sadly, this choice is a non-starter right now, for so many reasons I won’t even begin to address them all. Mainly the problem is money. That’s not a cop-out, it’s just the unvarnished truth.

Choice 2) I can separate career goals from personal goals, which means I won’t be constantly facing a list of “life goals” that I’m not 100% free to pursue at any given moment. This would allow me to acknowledge that there are two sides of my life that don’t mesh well right now. Maybe I can’t accomplish everything as fast as I want, but I can make steady progress.

I believe I’m in a season of partial discontent, but it doesn’t have to be total discontent. I just have to accept the things I cannot change, and then change the things I can.

Simple, profound, and devilishly hard, right?

–Monica