Health, Wealth, Happiness, Time and Love
"...If you are a person who is having a hard time figuring out what your passion and purpose is, you don't have to pick one thing. Passion is not something you find, passion is something you feel. And you can jump from one thing to another, because all of them help you build skills and experiences that will lead you to the next thing you do, because in the end it'll all work itself out..." Mel Robbins
Photo by Randalyn Hill on Unsplash
I know the current thoughts and beliefs in the blogging world are that you need to niche down, niche down, and then to make it even more precise – niche down again. But that’s like asking me to be one-dimensional, and I am just not able to, or willing to, be one-dimensional. I am a three-dimensional woman, not just in the roles I am juggling (wife, mom, employee, daughter, owner, writer, friend, chef, taxi driver, personal assistant), but also in my interests, beliefs, passions, and purpose. So asking me to niche down to a single focus is never going to happen, and when I saw the quote above from Mel Robbins (whom I greatly admire), I knew that I knew, that it was going to be okay. I can, and I will, research, read, think and write up about all the different things I am interested in, and then in this space, hopefully, help you find your passion and purpose. Or at the very least, make you think and dream again, help you dig deeper and rediscover that young artist, dancer, singer, engineer, actress, astronaut, or author from your past.
So within this space, here you will find articles, thoughts, dreams, research and advice on health, wealth, happiness, time and love and everything in-between, The Top 5, as I like to call it. There will also be discussions on purpose, passion, time management, productivity and anything else I am exploring personally. I hope you will find something within these words that will ignite a small flame of hope again, remind you to dream and plan and imagine once more, remember who you were and who you want to be again.
So how do you find your passions or your purpose; these are such trendy words at the moment, and everyone is telling you, “If you find your passion, you’ll never have to work again”, but in case you didn’t know this already, it is a load of rubbish! Whether you love your job or not, it still requires work, and there will always be days when it is a struggle. I remember reading that to figure out where your passions lie, look back at what you were focused on, what you were interested in, around the ages of ten to twelve, and this could be an indication of where you should be heading as an adult. For me, this advice rings so very true – I spent all my spare time writing and reading, my dream was to be a best selling author or novelist, and I wrote continuously. My daughters passion (currently 11 years old) is art; she spends hours and hours drawing, painting, shading, and blending colours. It won’t surprise me if she pursues a career in the arts: a clothing designer or interior designer, a graphic artist, architect – something to do with colour and design. She is incredibly talented, and we are very proud of her and will be encouraging her to follow her dreams wherever it takes her.
So with this in mind – what would you have been doing if you had followed your ten-year-old heart? Are you doing something that connects you to that dream, or have you veered off in a different direction? If you have changed your focus (and there is nothing wrong with this), do you have a deep yearning to pursue it again, to turn back the clock? The reality is, this theory doesn’t work for everyone – I know my husband certainly had no real drive as a ten-year-old, and I am not even sure about my son. He is into his gaming, so in time this may lead somewhere, but right now, he is a typical nine-year-old boy who wants to spend all his spare time on his devices.
But beyond the ten-year-old fantasies, there are other ways to think about and help you figure out where your passions and purpose lie. Try some of these things:
In a notebook, jot down:
- Things you are interested in (e.g. cooking, gardening, computer programming, time management).
- Things that are you naturally good at (e.g. organising events, taking charge, sports, coaching, singing, baking, keeping in touch, routines).
- What do others compliment you on (e.g. welcoming new people, listening, solid advice, great taste in clothes or colours, beautiful garden, playing an instrument).
- What lights you up (e.g. reading a great book, singing, music, running, the beach, hiking, being self-sufficient, a bubble bath).
- Do any of these things overlap?
Never underestimate the challenges you go through either; sometimes, these are what lights a fire under us; when we have gone through tough times, we want to help others and be the guide for someone else, that we didn’t have.
An example of this is my love of cooking; when my husband and I got married, I had two dishes I could make without fail; everything else often ended up inedible (my husband is a very patient man, thank goodness). But about five years into our marriage, he became very sick and, over time, has developed several quite severe intolerances, including gluten, dairy and fructose (sugar). These issues became quite the turning point for me, and I have taught myself how to cook and bake both gluten-free and dairy-free, and relatively fructose-free as required (and more lately garlic-free and coconut-free). But this has given me a real passion for helping those still early on this journey, as twelve years into it, I feel very confident trying new things in the kitchen. Over the next few years, I want to go deeper into nutrition and maybe do some papers on food allergies and gut health.
So really, start exploring, don’t second-guess yourself, and don’t judge yourself. If you have only just started on this journey, you have the rest of your life to figure it out. I still haven’t; I only know that I need to write; everything else is a bonus, and I refuse to squeeze myself into someone else’s mold. So I write as a three-dimensional person, with many areas of interest and passions, and I will continue to explore and discover as I go.
I would love you to come along and explore with me; let’s start looking back to move forward and start breaking those molds.
Comments