Fighting for Passion

Two weeks ago I wrote about ways to support your dream. But what if you don’t feel a passion or push toward anything?

If I’m honest I’ve never been the type of person who fit into that category. I’ve always had one thing or another that held importance to me even if it didn’t make any sense or fit into my life at the time. However, I did have things that blocked me from moving forward and I’ve learned that there are many ways that we can unknowingly stop ourselves from dreaming. Here are just a few:

Focusing on money

If you’re going to have a passion it has to be about more than just making money. It is a privilege to live a life where money isn’t your main focus. I understand that. Some people don’t have that luxury. But when we base our passions on the pursuit of money we can get confused about whether we really want to do something or if we are just doing it for the money. Asking- Can I make a living doing this?-is valid for sure, but not the place to start when it comes to discovering your dream. If you’re thinking of how rich you will become it can cloud your vision for your true passion. It’s important to recognize that no matter what you choose to do there may be times of abundance or lack. Is it something you love? Does it stir your soul? There needs to be that desire to pursue your passion outside of money otherwise you might not make it through the difficult and barren moments.

Feeling stuck

There are many things that can have you feeling stuck and from my experience, I was often stuck more in my head than I was in the physical. Feeling like you can’t move forward and creating invisible barriers for yourself can often look like excuses, procrastination, and feeling like others are holding you back. Whenever I’ve felt this way it’s been helpful to look at my life and pay attention to the things I actually have control over. For instance, I’ve often complained about not having time to do things but when I took an honest look I saw that I could say no to opportunities to create room in my life. I realized I could get up earlier to create more space or follow a schedule to get more done in a day. If I needed information or a skill I had to figure out how to get that information instead of bemoaning my life and waiting for it to fall into my lap. This might sound basic but it’s something that I constantly have to pay attention to. If you feel stuck look for small simple things you have control over to get unstuck. You might find that your imagination starts to run wild again and you have a new desire for a new passion.

Self-doubt

Not believing you can accomplish a dream or passion is the fastest way to dry up all your creativity. I’ve had a lot of conversations with others and asked questions about where they felt their hearts were leading them. Often people would say they didn’t know. I’d always ask again and Ninety-eight percent of the time there would be a real answer of something they were interested in but were doubting they could accomplish. Self-doubt can be so powerful it can block you from realizing things you’ve always wanted to do. A quick way to test this is to ask yourself “If you had all the skills and whatever you needed and nothing was holding you back what would you do?” Try this and look into your heart to see if you are doubting your abilities.

Whatever it is that has stopped you from dreaming in the past doesn’t have to define you today. Try praying and asking God for wisdom and courage to dream again.

(Here is a quick article of an interview that I did a few months ago. I decided to share it because it has some relevance in the area of feeling stuck.)

Have any of these or other situations blocked you from recognizing your passion? What did you do to start dreaming again? Let me know in the comments!