Find Your Passion or Purpose and Stick With It
Find Your Passion or Purpose and Stick With It. On our blog today, we are talking about the importance of finding your passion and striving very hard on your life’s journey to stick with it. This is certainly a tough one, but it’s something I know for a fact…It resonated so strongly with me at a recent workshop o attended, where one of the Speakers spoke so passionately about finding your purpose/passion, as one of the keys to sure success. I will try to explain with a story from Sarah’s Diary.
Sarah was a high achieving professional woman, with a promising career. This short story is an account of her recent trip out of the country on an official assignment. As she finally sat down in the plane, Sarah was so angry and irritated at how tedious her journey had been so far. It just wasn’t her day she thought to herself. At least her seat was nice… She was grateful that she had decided to pay the extra on the ticket allowance from work to upgrade her seat to a business class ticket. It all started at the check-in counter when the airline staff for some reason couldn’t find her booking.
He had kept Sarah at the counter for what seemed like ages, purportedly in order to contact the control room to reboot the system….(whatever that meant!) When they finally found her booking and checked her in, it turned out that one of Sarah’s bags was overweight and she was asked to move items into her second box, which was practically empty. She grudgingly did as requested not understanding why they were giving her such grief on a Business Class ticket. Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, Sarah made her way to the boarding gate. As if that wasn’t enough, the queue was really long and she stood in line fuming at no one in particular.
Totally flustered and out of breath she boards the plane, wondering how she was going to survive the 6hr flight ahead of her. Still, in deep thought, Sarah brings out her headphones and decides to play some music. Music was her passion. She could actually sing very well and she was forever toying with the idea of one day recording a song of her own. Earphones in, eyes closed, she begins to sway gently to the beat. Ushers voice never sounded so good. Soon she was smiling, rocking in her seat, arms swaying back & forth, humming as quietly as she could, totally immersed in the moment and without a care in the world. The frustrating experience at the check-in counter was totally forgotten and she was oblivious to the stares from passengers around her…. or perhaps she just didn’t care…
As we see in Sarah’s case, your passion has the ability to take you from your lowest to your highest point…. in seconds. The question then becomes… How Do You Find Your Purpose or Passion? Sarah’s story will help us.
From as long as she could remember, Sarah loved music, she loved to dance and she had a beautiful singing voice. You would often hear her singing to herself in the shower most mornings as she prepared for work. In her childhood years, she had spearheaded her siblings in forming a singing & dance group and they would perform at most family functions and events. In school, on special occasions, she was oftentimes called upon to perform or to sing the National Anthem during assembly. She was in the choir both at her home Church and in the boarding house and all the way to the Campus choir in university.
Sarah owned a karaoke machine, a keyboard, and a guitar and she had learned to play the piano and the guitar whilst in Secondary school. She also wrote songs and had a number of volumes of songbooks to her credit. Over the years she had entered into various singing competitions; some she lost, some she won. She loved to watch all the reality shows that had an element of singing in them and to this day, woe betides, you if you attempt to catch her attention during a broadcast of The Voice, American Idol, America’s Got Talent…..or indeed any similar show…
Now with the above scenario, Sarah ought to have pursued a Carer in music. She was obviously very passionate about it and even now as a fully grown adult, you find her at her most peaceful and joyful when she is in that space. Sarah however never pursued a career in music, and she is actually a very successful Financial Consultant by profession. Sarah’s love for music is Passion and had she pursued it fort her, she would have found her Purpose. So my question for you as you read this post is this… What is that thing that comes so naturally to you… What is it that thing that you know you are really good at… What has the ability to bring a smile to yourself no matter the circumstance….. Therein lies your passion. If you are able to pursue it and stick with it, I assure you that your breakthrough will come. It may be delayed, but it will surely come.