I spent my twenties and thirties on a quest to find my passion. Or, more accurately, I tried to figure it out. I researched, analyzed, experimented, tested, analyzed, researched, again and again.
I thought passion was a thing wrapped in exactly the right circumstances – a job in a certain type of environment or serving certain groups of people. I just didn’t know what the job was or who the people were.
I did find something I really love doing – coaching – but it’s not my passion. Coaching itself isn’t my passion, because passion isn’t a thing or circumstance or situation or profession.
What I was looking for turned out not to be a passion, it was a feeling. It was so much simpler than the hunt for My Ultimate Calling, so much easier to find because it was part of me all along.
My “passion” was really just a feeling of being energized, an internal fire, an intensely joyful oh-my-god-I-LOVE-THAT feeling.
If you’re trying to find your passion, if you’re feeling stuck not knowing what you should be doing with your life or if you’re looking for purpose, start from the inside out.
What do you love doing? What would you do for free? What do you already do for free, just because you love it? What fires you up, sparks joy, energizes you?
It’s not actually about the what, it’s about the feeling. Once you’re clear on the feeling itself (it took me a while to get there), all you need to do is follow it. It’s your inner compass, your true north, and tuning into it means you have found your passion. Now, you can go about the fun of seeing where it takes you.