We all have things that we’re passionate about, such as sports, music, food, gaming, fashion, art or fitness. As we get older, many of us lose touch with our passions and focus on what is “practical”. But, making sure you follow your passion is important. This “north star” is often what gives us a sense of purpose and can bring us true happiness. 

When people talk about “following your passion”, so many times it’s in the context of a job. People say, “find a job that you love so you never have to work a day in your life!”. I definitely agree with this sentiment and if you can make that work that’s great! But, sometimes your passion isn’t always meant to be your profession. It could just be meant to be a hobby or a thing you do for fun with friends every month.

It’s important to take the stress off of what it could be and lean into what it is. Is this something you enjoy to do? Can you can carve it into your schedule? Would you do it even if you never got paid for it? If the answer is yes to these questions, I think you should go for it!

I believe that God wouldn’t put a desire in your heart if you weren’t supposed to be tapping into it in some way. But the real question is, how should you follow your passion? Below are a few ways to get more involved in your passions and live a more rewarding life. 

Read books and watch documentaries

You can immerse yourself in your passion by expanding your knowledge around the subject. Books and documentaries are a great way to learn more and develop your expertise. Consider downloading a few e-books related to your passion and research highly-rated documentaries. Of course, reading or watching documentaries can also be a passion in itself!

Follow blogs and social media pages

Start curating your online mailing lists and social media feeds so that they revolve more around your interests. For example, if your passion is watching sports, consider following sports blogs like https://sportnews.in/ and sports related social media pages (including following famous athletes or joining online communities). You can learn new things and get more involved in these types of online discussions. It’s important that you are looking at advice from the right people though, as professionals will be able to give you the best advice out there. For example, someone like Daniel Lerner of David Lerner Associates offers fantastic advice on specific areas regarding finance. The more insights you can get, the easier it will be to follow your passion.

You could even consider starting your own blog or social media account! (If you do this, don’t go into it putting any pressure on yourself to make money from it in the beginning. Just allow your passion to take the lead and everything else that you might want to get from it will fall into place.)

Join relevant local social clubs

A great way to meet people who are also interested in the same things is to join social clubs. This could include sports clubs, book clubs, film clubs, photography clubs, activist groups or university societies (if you’re currently in school). There are even sites online like Meetup that can help you find relevant organizations!

By interacting with fellow enthusiasts, you can make new friends, learn new things and share your own expertise. Also, if there isn’t a local club dedicated to your passion, you can always create your own!

Consider courses and workshops

You can expand your knowledge and develop skills via courses and workshops. In-person courses and workshops are also another great way to meet fellow enthusiasts, although you may find that an online course or virtual workshop is more practical if you have schedule conflicts and there are no local options. Courses can also be a chance to gain qualifications and possibly become an authority figure within the field if that’s your goal. 

Look for jobs related to your passion

Making money from your passion is the ultimate way of integrating your passion into your daily life. Most jobs related to popular interests are competitive, so you’ll need to show evidence of how passionate and knowledgeable you are.

All of the above measures such as taking courses, joining groups and reading books could definitely help you accomplish this. Look into job listing sites or simply try reaching out to relevant companies, regardless of whether they’re advertising job openings.

At some point, you could even consider starting a business around your passion if that’s the path you want to take! Before doing so, I would make sure to do all the proper research about the work that it will really take to get the business off the ground so that you’re not running into obstacle after obstacle and then run out of steam or lose interest in your passion. That would be such a bummer!

Enter competitions 

Competitions can challenge you to push your knowledge and skills to the limits. This could include sports competitions, dance competitions, gaming tournaments, local baking contests, online story-writing contests, talent shows or quizzes. Even if you don’t win, you’ll gain a lot from taking part and you could even make friends and network along the way! This post at sti.edu details more about the benefits of competition.

What is your passion? Do you have multiple? Let me know how you plan to incorporate yours more into your daily life!

xoxo, Arielle