How To Find Your Passion — My Theory

It’s been said before that one of the keys to being happy is doing things you are passionate about. But that’s always been the hardest part. How do you find the thing that you are passionate about? What if you are not one of those lucky ones who found their passion early in life and pursued it with a focused single mindedness? What if you are more of a dabbler, dabbling in this and that? Sure you are multifaceted. Or a jack-of-all-trades. Or if you want to give it a positive spin, a renaissance person. But, where is the passion? And how do you find it?

I have a theory about this. I think that you can find clues as to where your passions lie by looking at the things you loved as a child. Note: this theory only works if you had a generally happy childhood or at least some happy moments as a child. Try to remember what things you loved as a child. Think back. These were guile-less times when you did things “just because”. You weren’t trying to be fashionable. You didn’t even know what it meant to be fashionable.

What were your hobbies? What were your favorite activities? What were your favorite toys? Those same things that brought you such joy as a child are the things that will make you happy as an adult! Did you ever wonder why so many people are into restoration of things like classic cars, antiques and memorabilia? Or why it’s called “second childhood” when people ditch their traditional lifestyles to pursue their dreams? Or why when you’re having a lot of fun, you say that you feel like you’re a kid again?

The opposite of this is feeling like you’re not doing what you were really meant to be doing. Or feeling that what you’re doing has no meaning. Or feeling a disconnection between what you do and what you really want to do.  When you don’t love what you do, it feels like drudgery.

I’m a dabbler. I enjoy learning new things. I like taking classes and reading how-to books. I have taken classes in all sorts of things from jazz dancing to Total Immersion Swimming.  When faced with an opportunity to try something new, I always think, “how will you know whether or not you like it unless you give it a try? Yes, I have gone bungee jumping. And I enjoyed it too! Was it possible though that I had too many different interests? Maybe my interests were so spread out that they lacked focus and passion.

And then I found the farm and now  it all makes sense!  All the different things I enjoyed separately and in isolation over the years have come together. The farm is the missing piece of the puzzle.  I am supposed to be on this farm because it’s the place where I can do all the things I loved as a kid — being with animals, being outdoors, arts and crafts, photography, wearing boots, being like Little House on the Prairie, and being like Dian Fossey too! For the husband, it’s playing with trucks and tractors! Well, he also likes boats but I still don’t know how that fits in with the farm.

The next step is to figure out how to make money and create income doing the thing you are passionate about. That part, I haven’t figured out. I didn’t say I had all the answers!