Passion and Career

All of us have a passion in our life. People who are lucky realize their passion early in life whereas some of us take a long time to realize what our calling is and as a result end up getting stuck in something which we don’t like for half of our lives (sometimes even more than that) and doing that, just for the sake of doing it.

While following our passion and pursuing the same as a career may sound cool but this is easier said than done. It is not a cakewalk because we live in a society where we are judged for our choices every single second. Many a times, in societal pressure, most of us choose a career which seems stable and safe. Majority of us go for a career where the money is good, there are fixed hours of working, we get company accommodation, getting to go on trips sponsored by our company with our family and the tag of a “Successful Young Person” by the society.

Now all the things I mentioned above, they surely do paint a picture of a perfect life. But is this really perfect? I am sure, you would have met many of the people falling into this category I mentioned above and seem perfectly happy. But do you realize that they are the same people who curse their jobs, are neither happy nor satisfied, are frustrated and wait for weekends to vent out their frustration. Ask yourself this question, do you really want a job for yourself that fulfils your materialistic needs, but doesn’t give you inner peace and satisfaction of being happy for the rest of your life.

This is where following your passion and turning it into a career comes into picture. You might not get to earn the money you desire in the initial phase and the perks of a 9 to 5 job but you will be happy doing that. You would not long for weekends because you will be doing something you love to do and it will not feel like work. You won’t feel burned out even after a long day. There is a beautiful quote by Confucius,” Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

But following your passion also comes with a price to pay. You will have to face a lot of obstacles in doing that before you finally make it. Let me give you a glimpse into some of those:

1. In some cases, your parents may not agree with your choices. There is no denying the fact that our parents always wish the best for us but if you are choosing something that is out of the ordinary career choices and involves risk, your parents might not support you wholeheartedly. But remember, once you work sincerely towards your goal and your parents see your dedication, trust me they are going to be hardest of the ones rooting for you and will be the happiest when you succeed.

2. You will have to give a lot of time, blood and sweat to it in unlike the 9 to 5 job, where there are fixed working hours. And sometimes, even after giving it your all, you may not get the results you desire. Don’t give up when you find yourself in this situation, try to find the loopholes, talk to your mentors about it and try even harder till the time you get what you want.

3. When you see your friends around yourself getting settled in their life, you might compare your life with them and this will give birth to a sense of self doubt, “Is it really worth it or should I quit?”. In the weak moments like these, always remember the zeal and the reason you have started. And don’t give up.

These are just the small glimpses. What you are going to face is going to be much harder and challenging than this. When you decide to follow your passion, you will have to deal with all of this and still be honest and consistent with your efforts. It may take a long time to achieve what you want but trust me when you get there, it will be worth it. And even if you don’t make it big, it’s worth the effort because that will save you the regret for the rest of your life. But if you do it right, your effort is not going to get wasted.

But you must take a note. When I say follow your passion, I don’t mean for you to leave everything and mindlessly dive into it. You should plan it, strategies it and execute it. Sometimes before start doing what you love, you may have to get into things which you don’t like but always remember the purpose and look at the bigger picture. There are many engineers who turned to successful actors, many bankers who turned into amazing writers and many more examples of the same. Take inspiration from them but do not copy mindlessly.

Remember, internet and people around you may give you a lot of tips but you have to be wise and decide how much you should take from them.

Find your niche, create your own plan, follow your own path, make mistakes, learn from them and conquer the world.

Building a career from your passion and getting recognized for it is going to be the most fulfilling feeling you will ever feel, so start working towards it now from this moment because now is the best time for it.

Hope this was helpful. Stay tuned for more.