When I started reading books on personal development, it really stuck with me that only a tiny percentage of people do professional work that they are passionate about.
I remember that this made a huge impression on me, moreover, it aroused a desire to be in those few percent.
So, I started thinking hard about what I was passionate about. As Wojciech Kowalewski writes in his book Life-Changing Questions, „Only when you discover what passion is for you and start pursuing it, can you experience a fulfilled life.”
I recently had the opportunity to participate in a workshop in which the author was the guest speaker. He asked us what we associate “a calling” with.
The answers we all gave were:
- joy,
- fulfillment,
- excitement, etc.
I immediately thought of joy.
After listening to what we had to say, he presented us with a slightly different picture of what “a calling” may involve. Namely
- pain,
- suffering,
- sacrifice,
- rejection, etc.
For me, discovering one’s passion is, in a sense, knowing one’s calling.
That is why I connect the two.
The word “passion” itself comes from the Latin „passio,” meaning „suffering.”
Surprised?
Well, how does this relate to the definition that passion is a great love for something?
Experiencing passion involves experiencing emotions, the great ones, but also the unpleasant ones. It is not possible to live your passion without experiencing difficult, unpleasant emotions.
Avoiding suffering stops us in our tracks. Anyone who wants to move forward should remember that growth is almost always accompanied by difficult feelings and sometimes actual pain (Monika and Marcin Gajdy “Growth, how to cooperate with grace”).
What else is the pursuit of passion if not precisely growth? Passion is not standing still, stagnating, and avoiding pain. It’s moving forward despite the pain or, better put, together with the pain.
I remember what Steve Jobs said in one of his recent interviews. His words were more or less like this: „If you don’t love what you do, you won’t last.”
And while it’s wonderful to discover your passion, it’s equally important not to turn away from it when the road starts leading up the hill. Just like the saying goes: if you have an uphill climb then you’re probably headed for the top.
On the one hand, we may think that if it’s a true passion we won’t turn away, but we must be realistic. While there will be those who will say that we are the ones writing the script for our lives, very often we have no control over what happens to us. What we do have influence over is our reactions to what happens to us. But in the meantime, it is possible to get lost and start questioning our choices.
Sometimes we think that when things get very difficult, perhaps it’s not for us.
Perhaps this is the case. Perhaps what you are trying to accomplish is not for you. And perhaps it is.
For me, passion is defined by whether you keep coming back to that something and you long for it. It doesn’t give you peace of mind.
When there came a moment of enlightenment in my life and I realized that working with others towards their growth was something I could call my professional calling, I immediately set to work, checking out coaching schools, meeting with their representatives, talking to other coaches and finally deciding to invest a very considerable amount of money to educate myself to become a professional coach.
Later, however, the time came when I decided to go in a slightly different direction, I set up a language school, then a translation agency. However, something did not give me peace of mind. This melody did not stop playing in my soul and years later I returned to work as a coach and career consultant.
What I want to say is that this inner restlessness can be your ally. It’s worth listening to yourself, and if there is music playing there that can’t be heard on the outside, it could be our passion that has been stifled, forgotten or simply undiscovered. There may also be music playing which is hard to recognize. Therefore, it is worth reaching for ready-made tools that can help us discover our vocation.
At this point, I can’t help but mention Career Direct, a tool my clients very often use to discover their career potential.
Although our passion does not have to be fully expressed at work, each one of us can find a professional calling cut out for us.
Remember that working in a profession that is on the upswing and that promises a bright financial future, if done against one’s natural gifting, generally does not lead to valuable results.
Steve Jobs also said „Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life…Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know who you really want to become.”