Welcome to day 5 of Five Days to Discovering Your Passion. Congratulations on making it to the final day! You’ve made some amazing progress so far.
Yesterday we looked at ways to explore and assess areas of passion. On this final day, we’ll look at benefits and outcomes - the varied paths where your passion can take you.
Reflection:
No one gets to the end of their life and wishes they had led a more boring existence. Imagine how satisfying it is to uncover sources of joy that you hadn’t identified before.
Adopt a mindset that opens the door for adventure!
The benefits of stepping out, exploring new interests, and finding passion are plentiful. New friendships will form. You become a more interesting person and less dependent on others’ opinions.
This isn’t selfishness. Becoming more satisfied, focused, and content makes you a better partner, parent, and friend. Passionate people are good role models!
Physical benefits occur too. Trying new things leads to a release of the “feel good” hormone called dopamine. Turning around and doing good in the world is a reward in itself too.
A guide from the UK mental health foundation, Doing Good Does You Good states: “Doing things for others helps maintain good health. Positive emotions reduce stress and boost our immune system, and in turn, can protect us against disease.”
In addition to all these benefits, your passion can indeed bring you to career possibilities. You could end up in a dream job that grows out of a passion.
It’s important to follow the path to see where it leads. Avoid putting pressure on yourself or being afraid to make mistakes. There simply are no wrong ways to pursue your passion.
Action:
Narrowing your interests to a specific passion is often a series of small increments.
Name three interests that have kept your attention, brought satisfaction, given you energy, or made you lose track of time.
What is the very next incremental step you can take to nurture each interest? Be willing to step out of your comfort zone.
Do you see ways that each interest could become income-producing or a career opportunity, even part-time?
Are there indicators that your interests are related? If so, how could they be combined?
Could you be satisfied if your interests don’t lead to a career change?
How could you pursue them anyway for your own fulfillment?
Think in small steps. Your goal is simply to nurture your interests and see which offer the most rewards. With each step you take, you’ll be closer to both discovering and doing the things that give you the most joy.
Congratulations on completing the 5-day challenge!
Tomorrow we’ll do a quick wrap up and bring everything together.
Great job!
