Passion Fruit

We all wish we had that one mentor, who would guide us through the thick and thin of professional life. Someoone who could give an answer to many questions that ultimately converge into the one major question- that is, the struggle for finding true meaning of living. Among these, major pertinent questions could be:

What is passion? Is it something which one has to discover ? Or is it some thing which you have to build over time ?
And more so lately questions like ‘how is passion different from merely an interest?’ have begun popping up. Can we be deeply interested in working for something and be able to do it all our lives ? Or would it eventually stop because interest is merely subjective to time? Is your passion timeless enough to be able to be sustained all your life ?
How do you differentiate between interest and passion ? And is it really necessary ? Should anyone care ?

Well, at whatever stage you are in your career, you should care. You could be at that point in your career where you might have made a start, a fairly good start, which according to the definition given by the society, could be a well respected job. Or you could be in a job at that stage which means this career for you is set and you probably are on the way to having a perfect and prosperous life OR ‘lifestyle’, if that is the correct word.

And maybe you too are a bit content at present. Perhaps a part of you had always wished for this kind of sense of well being and security. You would maybe, say that the kind of work you are doing was your childhood passion! But are you cometely satisfied? If the answer is no or you aren’t sure, there could be many reasons for that. Maybe, all this while you were ‘thinking’ that this was your passion and you could do this for the whole of your life. On the contrary, this was merely an interest but definitely not PASSION.

However, very recently I read an article on medium.com that people who end up doing what they ‘think’ they are passionate about — may not end up being very content once they are really into it. One major reason is there would be thousands of passionates like them but who would be very good at their game and thus there is a fair chance you could be beaten at your own game. But that is true, however, for any type of work you do.

So one important thing that I think you should learn is that, you should not blindly follow your ‘passion’. It may very well be an interest and so the novelty will fade out eventually.

How passion is therefore built, in my personal opinion, is by planning out your life and then by working hard towards achieving to realise it. So step back, take a moment to plan and think about what you want to do and more importantly, where you want to reach. Make financial as well as self contentment goals. Be a responsible citizen and not a narrow minded jerk.

Work hard, learn a lot and along the way you just might encounter your passion.