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How do you know you have found your passion?
Humanity is constantly searching for fulfillment and passion, but how does one know that they have found their passion? We all have work we were born to do, or a part we were made to play. How do you you choose one goal and give up, or diminish, the numerous other possibilities?
Debra Smith 200+
Eric Hazelle
Bharath Kumar Kunjibettu 10+
I learnt playing the keyboard myself at the age of 13 , but due to pressure on education , I was made to just play my tiny keyboard and enjoy it at the same time study. In the meantime , I also had this amazing knack of mimicking others .
Today , at 24, I am learning piano professionally and because I was passionate about understanding humans ,I could mimick people. When I explored further I realized,I could solve people's complex problems in a simple way
Now I found my third passion TED , where I could easily reach out to people from different parts of the world and communicate to them with ease
So here I am at TED and I have realized I have found my passion.
Cheers,
Bharath
Adriaan Braam 20+
Just be careful to not focus too much on that one thing you love doing. There is more to life and more people in your life than just that one thing you love doing. For instance you would not want to have your marriage fall apart because there is no contact.
Sometimes it is better to just have a job and do something you love, with the one you love.
Stuart Woods 10+
Ultimately I'd say, if you're stuck for a answer ask yourself....what would get up for tomorrow and do for no money yet know you COULD be amazing at? (the last bit is important) The answer to this could help....and If things don't work out (and in the great words of Lemony Snickett) there's ALWAYS something else.
I think for many the idea of finding 'THE' thing is intimidating. For many of us there are more than one thing which interests us greatly so it's a struggle. Many people reach an understanding at different points in their life, no one time is right compared with another. I have friends and colleagues who knew their passion when they were five, others still working it out.The word decide derives from the word meaning 'to cut off', that is to say when we decide one thing over another, it means we are 'undeciding' (sorry English graduates!) others. Closing doors is daunting, but exhilarating too.
Feyisayo Anjorin 50+
We find our passion when we find something we could enjoy doing, such that even its difficulty will not hinder our sacrifice to get it done.
We know when we find it; but it could slip away slowly without our awareness.
Nothing good comes easy, it is easier to destroy than to build; and sometimes we underestimate the sacrifices we have to make in order to achieve something significant; we might have to go farther than we think to find fufilment.
We need to be motivated, we need to be loved. We need to know that our efforts are supported, and that we are accepted as precious without conditions.
Persistence may be hard in trying circumstances. But it is the only way to progress.
Part of persistence is 'persistence in excellence' , we should not stop our efforts at self and societal improvement for as long as we live. No to stagnation, no to mediocrity.
Bernard Seremonia
But practically, you can try these to closer to self understanding:
1. Try to interact with others. Read book, widening our knowledge to give us more chance, to get our passion with fair (no hidden of something that left behind),
2. If your heart vibrate strongly to something, whether it triggered with curiosity or strong denial, it may be your passion,
3. Just make your list and make a log for further experience. Perhaps in the future your heart will vibrate strongly or even stronger to something the same as you experienced in the past (in this case: one not enough, but more makes clearer)
4. Try to validate, whether it against your believe or not. If it against your believe, try to generalize it and look for other subset that you might still interested on other subset with strong vibration within your heart. And repeat again for the number 3.
5. And if you found something then, the best part is struggle, fight to achieve it with kindness & carefully until you get what you dream on.
If somehow you thought this was wrong passion, then remember this: we already passed this correctly then it's our limit. We are imperfect, but we try to do the best. It's our ever best guess.
Less or more ...
Mitch Harrison
I'm only 18 years old, so you can take my input with a grain of salt.
Music is my passion. My father is a musician. My grandfather is a musician. Past there, I've not a clue. One day, I realized that music is what I live for. I asked myself "I hear all these people talking about passion, but what is mine?" I thought of what I do every day, what I study when I'm on my own, what I think about when I wake up. I even thought about what I think about the most! It all came down to this:
When you go to bed thinking about something every night, and wake up thinking about it. When you go home, and look for new ways to pursue it. When you start daydreaming about it throughout your day. Even when it gets you through some sort of turmoil. That "something" is going to be a passion someday, if not now.
I struggled with an addiction to self-harm (sob story, I know). But music came through for me where friends, family, even therapists couldn't. It saved my life, and now I dedicate my life to it. Find something that you think is worth dedicating your life to, and something you will be able to do forever. That, I believe, will be your passion.
Good luck on your journey, and keep TED (and me) updated!