How to find your passions

I'm not sure why, but finding your passions in life can be a bit tricky. I guess that's true at some times of life more than others, and there's nothing like parenting to drown that part of your life that you need to make you, you. I think that once you know what you want to do with yourself, three-quarters of your battle is over.

Right now I feel like my life has been drowned under a pile of washing. It seems as though life is just cleaning, feeding children, cooking, running around and fulfilling routines. Filled with too much necessity and too few meandering wants. I know it's only a temporary feeling, but I thought that writing about it might help it to pass more quickly. Hopefully reading this will help you, too.

There are conversations that have always been around, but certain times your ears are attuned to them, and talk of passions is one of those that I'm right into of late. Some words I've heard are:

Make space, then see how you want to fill it. Sometimes you need to create time, even go back to that thing people say about kids: be bored to find the greatest things in life. If you had the time, what would you do?

Reflect at the end of each day. What do you wish you'd done? There are days I get frustrated with myself, mostly when I've just hung around waiting for something amazing. It's the one thing I often wish I'd done differently when I'm lying in bed at night: seeking the inspiration, rather than being passive about it. The days I finish off the happiest are the days I've written something I'd been wanting to get out, or I've stepped outside the routine to take photos, or even just gone for a drive and discovered somewhere or something I hadn't experienced before. The end product rarely matters; I'm usually just happy to have tried.

What makes you jealous? I heard a saying that when you're jealous of someone - like, insanely jealous - it shows what your next move in life should be. That's what you want to do. I like that: it gives those yucky feelings of envy a more positive spin. Me, I get jealous at lots of things: those making a real living from writing or photographing, people who travel where I want to go (i.e. anywhere), those who get a book deal, and of course lots of blogging envy. I know it, and the ball's in my court to turn those feelings into actions.

What gives you that feeling? You know the one: the combination of absolute happiness, total satisfaction, immense pride, and just... wholeness. I get it when I'm on the road with my family, or when the words string together perfectly, or when a photo comes out just as I'd imagined it. 

Maybe you're multi-passionate. I'd always wondered if I was a bit too changeable, because I can never decide on one thing I absolutely want to do. Then I read an article about this very thing and thought it was great that I'm not alone. Turns out I'm not flaky; I'm multi-passionate! Maybe I'm not meant to do one thing - maybe I'm better off doing a combination of the things I love. (And maybe even a few that interest me but I'm not totally passionate about, because perspective is everything.) You'll probably even find there's an underlying theme behind all the things you enjoy.

So now what? Do you turn your passion into a job? Ah, the million-dollar question. If you turn your passion into a job, do you lose the passion? Or will it make working life blissful? Quite possibly neither - but I'm a big advocate of enjoying your work as much as possible, so if there are things I love that can be turned into income then I like to give it a shot.

What's your passion in life? Are you pondering your next move, too?