Finding your passion?
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| Fri, 02-11-2005 - 10:49am |
Hello there,
I am searching for some advice about finding your passion in life and would like to learn from the experiences of people out there who have found work that they love. I've posted this message on a couple of the "work" boards, so if you've seen this before, I apologize! I got a few responses, but I thought this might be the right board to find passionate people who are in tune with their desires.
So, as a background, I am 26 years-old and have been working full-time since I graduated from college 5 years ago. Entering the workforce was a huge challenge for me since I loved being in school and found myself resisting the need to get a job right after I graduated. My first real job experience was working as a media buyer for an ad agency, which I after a year of struggling to be even remotely successful, I realized the role did not utilize my talents or interests. After one year I was laid off, and it was the best thing that could have happened to me.
Since then I’ve done a variety of jobs, including an administrative role at a university, which was not only terribly boring, but demeaning as well since I didn't receive any respect from my boss or co-workers. I was the girl who got dumped on with all of the grunt work. I left that job at the advice of my boss since he knew I was completely unhappy. To pay the bills I started nannying, which was a refreshing change of pace. I truly enjoyed being creative again with the children and I liked being out of an office environment. I found that I ate better and got in terrific shape from running after two four-year-old boys all day. People constantly commented on how great I looked (meaning happy, healthy, relaxed). Despite my initial bliss, after several months, I started to get bored again and felt the nagging tug of the corporate world on my sleeve (maybe it was my parents hounding me to get a real job, after all they did pay a bundle for my education). I picked up a part-time internship with an academic publisher in sales and although I didn’t love being on the sales force, I did enjoy working with books since reading and writing are a passion of mine. Putting two and two together, I decided that this was my calling, only I wanted to produce the product, not sell it, so I got a job in the editorial department at an academic publisher. My first year and a half was challenging and somewhat fun, but I started to grow out of the role and since the pay stinks in this industry, I was forced to change jobs. I took a my new position at a competing publisher in order to move up, but it is leaving me jaded, bored out of my mind, and searching for something new after only eight months.
I’m frustrated that with all of the soul searching I have done, I’ve only landed back at a boring desk job where I feel lazy and uninspired about succeeding. I know that my hidden passion is lying somewhere deep inside of me, only I feel overwhelmed at the thought of finding out what it is. I have an inkling that I’d like to do something with education/books/learning, but I want to be more creative in my work and I'm afraid of making another bad move. I think ultimately, I’d like to be the one writing the books, not managing their production schedules and I've actually started writing again as a result of my experience. Maybe someday I'll be published, but what do I do until then? My role in publishing is turning out to be one as a paper pushing monkey, and the next position on the totem pole calls for more of the same. I’ve noticed that I’m not succeeding in the corporate world at all and find the lifestyle oppressive, only I am afraid of break out of it and do something unconventional. Does anyone have some advice on how I can move beyond this obstacle?
Thanks for reading!

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Hi R, your experience sounds similar to my own. Me and my husband had it all for a while, the jobs, the house, the cars etc, etc then a couple of years ago he had an affair and in the aftermath of dealing with that and deciding which direction we were going to take, we both realised how unhappy and unfulfilled we had both felt with our lives the way they were. He is now doing a job that pays him less than half of what he earned in 2000 and I work part-time while I study for my degree, but we are both sooooo much happier that the house and the cars etc are no longer important. Our home is much less fraught with stress and tension as we tried to hold it all together and the evidence of that is obvious on our kids.
I agree that often your passion lies beyond your career and although the income generated from it may be as good sometimes you can turn that passion into your career and feel much happier which can then impact on other areas of your life.
Carol
I think in most peoples' late teens and twenties, many people are constantly searching and then find themselves looking for the wrong things in life. I think many times, until their is some major eye-opener that takes them in the right direction, we try to achieve the wrong goals. Sometimes, we are searching and searching and our happiness may have been there in the first place and we didn't look at it in the right way at first.
Mine was the opposite of your situation. Instead of an affair, I couldn't forgive my husband for lying to me about finances in the beginning of my marriage. I was always brutally honest and I believed the worst betrayal in life is lying. Unfortunately, I never realized that he lied because of my blunt personality. He was afraid if I knew we were having money problems, I would go off the handle. My selfishness in not seeing both sides, led me to held a grudge for years,and, as I look back, I was so mean! When I changed my point of view, I couldn't believe what a bitch I was!. He had his faults, but he is a good, hardworking man who lied because I caused him to believe he would be less of a man if he wasn't a good provider. Although, he was only 25 and still trying to find the right path for himself also. I learned to be more objective and less selfish. Now, I feel like I am much more objective and nothing can be 100% perfect.
When we are searching for whatever is missing in our lives, although it is tough, I think that we are learning one of our life lessons we chose for ourselves when we decided to come into this world. The one we struggle with the most and longest seems to turn out to be the main lesson we are trying to learn in this lifetime. Like mine being a spiritual path, others may be a career or relationship path, etc.... I try to keep in the back of my head that I intended myself to search high and low for this particular truth I am seeking, and it seems to make the "quest" a bit easier.
R
Hi, I am 36, almost 37, and have gone through the same ordeal in my life.
passionate about anything you do. Love the shower in the AM, be
passionate about saying good mornng to the people you work with,
add joy to their day, do for others, get excited about how the person
behind you feels whn you pay their toll. Pray and ask the energy above
to bring to you the place you should be. In this day and age jobs are scarce,
when you find your nitch, it may disappear. Passion is in the moment.
you liked being a nanny, work with kids, ask where you can be of service to the planet
and listen. Give of yourself, smile a lot and it will come back to you.
Love, Leila
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